The Law Center firmly believes we all have a human right to safe, affordable housing—a position the U.S. government has supported through international treaties, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Unfortunately, our country has failed so far to make that right a reality.
The shortage of affordable rental housing remains at unconscionable levels. For the 6.8 million American households for whom even a modest rental home is unaffordable and unavailable, life is a daily struggle for survival. Fortunately, there is a solution that will move us towards ending America’s homelessness and affordable housing crisis: the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF).
Advocates achieved a significant victory in 2008 when the NHTF was established, thanks to the support and advocacy of thousands of endorsing organizations nationwide. Now, your help is needed to take the next critical step: to get the NHTF funded. The Law Center is working with the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and a large coalition of other organizations to support this effort. We think funding the NHTF is so important that we have made this effort a top policy priority for 2013. As our partner, we hope you will join us in this effort.
We are pleased to share with you NLIHC’s proposal to fund the NHTF with resources from mortgage interest tax reform. The plan will expand tax benefits to middle and low income homeowners and redirect funds to the NHTF. We urge your organization to join us and endorse it now!
Capitalizing the NHTF will provide billions of dollars in resources that can be used to build and rehabilitate affordable rental housing. It will also provide all homeowners who have mortgages with a tax break—not just those with enough income to file itemized tax returns. Simply put, funding the NHTF with savings from mortgage interest tax reform is good public policy rooted in sound analysis. Moreover, it is simply the right thing to do and will help ensure progressive realization of the human right to housing.
The support of grassroots advocates is absolutely essential to advancing this plan in the weeks and months to come. We are asking you to do three things:
- Endorse the proposal.
- Forward this message to other organizations and encourage them to endorse, too. Nearly 800 organizations already have done so.
- Visit www.housingtaxreform.org to learn more and use an online calculator to see how the mortgage interest tax reform will affect you.
Our campaign to fund the NHTF is gaining momentum. With your help, we can send a powerful message that savings from mortgage interest tax reform can be used to end homelessness.