The National Alliance to End Homelessness is seeking help in its efforts to muster support in Congress for the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants, FY2016. To that end, there are action items outlined below. Click the links to download the documents.

Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) began circulating a sign-on letter to her colleagues in the House of Representatives in support of providing $2.480 billion in funding for HUD’s McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants in FY 2016. The deadline for U.S. representatives to join the letter is Monday, March 23, and members of the House can join by contacting Sean Gard in Rep. Moore’s office at (202) 225-4572 / Sean.Gard@mail.house.gov.

Similarly, Senators Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) are circulating a sign-on letter in the Senate in support of providing $2.480 billion for McKinney programs AND $21.1 billion for Section 8 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance in FY 2016. The deadline for U.S. Senators to sign on to the letter is this upcoming Tuesday, March 17, and members of the Senate can join by contacting Elizabeth Eichelberg in Senator Merkley’s office at (202) 224.3753 /Elizabeth_Eickelberg@merkley.senate.gov.

We need to get as many representatives’ and senators’ signatures as possible on these letters, and we need YOUR help! To see if your representative or senator has already joined the letter, click here for the House letter  and here for the Senate letter.

Here’s What You Can Do:

As part of our Letter Writing Campaign, send a letter to your Members AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and ask them to join the Dear Colleague letters.

You can email them a letter by customizing the sample available for download: the House or the Senate letterwith a short note asking them to join the letter.

Tell the staff person in the House that representatives can join the letter by March 23 by contacting Sean Gard (sean.gard@mail.house.gov) in Rep. Moore’s office at (202) 225-4572.
Tell the staff person in the Senate that senators can join the letter by March 17 by contacting Elizabeth Eichelberg (Elizabeth_Eickelberg@merkley.senate.gov) in Sen. Merkley’s office at (202) 224.3753.

If they say they cannot join the letter, ask if they will submit a “programmatic request” in support of providing $2.480 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento program and $21.1 billion to Section 8 in FY 2016.
Let us know which offices you contacted and what they said by emailing Jaime Colmanor myself!

Joining the sign-on letter provides an easier way for Members of Congress to include funding for HUD’s McKinney-Vento and Section 8 Tenant-Based Rental Assistance programs in their list of official funding priorities due to the Appropriations Committee soon. If offices are unable/unwilling to join the letter, they can be JUST as helpful by including this funding request in their official list of priorities.

We have quite a lot of work to do to reach our goal of collectively sending 500 letters to Members of Congress in support of increased McKinney and Section 8 funding, so writing a letter to your Members urging them to sign on to the Dear Colleagues letter is a great way to contribute to the Campaign and get your Members to show their support for increased funding for homeless assistance grants (and Section 8 vouchers for Senators)!