Advocacy Groups Unify to Lobby for Federal Housing Funds
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May 21, 2010
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - As Cabrini Green's last residents were served eviction notices this week, more than 100 Illinois advocacy groups unified with organizations across the country to seek federal funding for affordable housing. More than 2,200 organizations from every congressional district in the nation signed a letter of support for funding the National Housing Trust Fund.
Mary Ellen Durbin is one of the people who signed the letter. As executive director of the People's Resource Center and co-chair of the DuPage Housing Action Coalition, she says the economy makes this funding a necessary priority.
"The recovery is going to depend upon two very essential pieces of our policy. One is jobs and secondly, it's housing. In order to make sure that that recovery happens, funding the National Housing Trust Fund is essential."
Durbin says the government started losing it's fervor for providing affordable housing in the early 1980s. She says the National Housing Trust Fund is imperative to re-addressing that long-lost cause.
"The funding of the Housing Trust Fund is the first major step to the restoration of our country's commitment to ensuring that every citizen has a decent home."
The letter asks Congress to allocate $1 billion to the fund and another $65 million for initiatives that would increase the availability of low-income housing. The Illinois portion of the letter campaign was organized by Housing Action Illinois.
The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) has given the remaining 31 Cabrini Green families 30 days to vacate their homes in advance of a renovation project. CHA officials say all families will have the choice to relocate to another CHA-rehabilitated property or use a housing choice voucher to rent in the private market. Relocation assistance will also be offered to the families.