Mayors Urge Congress to Protect, Strengthen and Fully Fund Critical Housing Programs

As American Families Face National Affordability Crisis, nearly 150 Mayors Call on Appropriators to Preserve Critical Federal Housing Programs and Fund Landmark Housing Law Passed Earlier This Year

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Today, the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) released a letter signed by 148 bipartisan mayors to the chairs and ranking members of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees. The letter urged Congress to fully fund federal housing and community development programs for the 2027 fiscal year. It highlighted longstanding and proven housing programs, such as the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs, as well as new programs and grants authorized by this year's 21^st Century ROAD to Housing Act.

In the letter, mayors from across the country warn that failure to fund these critical housing programs could be disastrous as American families grapple with a national affordability crisis driven by high housing costs. While mayors celebrated Congress' bipartisan action this summer with the passage of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, they continue to call on Congress to appropriate the funding needed to implement the landmark housing bill.

"Our residents' housing stability should not be a casualty of the appropriations calendar," the letter said. "Mayors are on the front lines of the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in every region of the country, and the programs above are the tools we use to respond. We urge you to act quickly to fund them fully, and we stand ready to work with you as you finalize FY27 appropriations."

The letter also called on Congress to delay the adoption of OMB's proposed rule on the Uniform Guidance, which would inject political appointees deeper into the nonpartisan federal grant awarding process. Through the letter, mayors asked Congress to fix several anomalies included in the current Continuing Resolution as they consider longer-term funding agreements.

The full letter follows:

Dear Chairman Cole, Ranking Member DeLauro, Chair Collins, Vice Chair Murray, Chairman Womack, Ranking Member Clyburn, Chair Hyde-Smith, and Ranking Member Gillibrand:

We write to you as mayors from cities large and small across the country to urge you to fully fund the federal housing and community development programs our residents rely on as you finalize Fiscal Year 2027 appropriations, especially in light of the housing affordability crisis confronting our nation. The continuing resolution signed on September 2 funds the government only through December 11. To avoid a lapse in funding, we urge you to pass another continuing resolution before that date, and to include in it the housing protections described below so that families and programs are not harmed while final FY27 THUD appropriations are completed. Any extension should keep in place, with no cuts, the funding for the tools mayors depend on every day to keep our neighbors housed.

Fully Fund CDBG, HOME, and the New ROAD to Housing Act Provisions

The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs are the backbone of local housing and community development work in cities of every size. We ask that you fully fund both programs in the FY27 THUD bill, especially in light of the new reforms to both programs in the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, such as expanding CDBG eligible activities to include new housing construction, NEPA streamlining for housing projects, HOME modernization, and expanded ESG spending-cap waiver flexibility. Fully funding CDBG, HOME, and ESG will yield immediate housing impacts at the local level because of these reforms.

The Act also authorized CDBG-Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) funding for the first time in statute. For cities that have faced wildfires, floods, and other natural disasters, it is critical that the Committees provide robust and predictable CDBG-DR program funding so that communities can stabilize their neighborhoods, restore infrastructure, and advance long-term housing recovery. We urge the Committees to fund implementation of all of these provisions at levels that let cities put them to use right away.

Fund HUD Programs at the Levels Our Communities Need

For the final FY27 THUD bill, we also ask the Committees to:

• Provide at least $45.6 billion for Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, indexed for inflation to keep pace with annual rising operating costs and rental market increases, enough to renew all current contracts and continue serving the more than 40,000 households still relying on an Emergency Housing Voucher.
• Reject the Administration's proposal to prohibit Public Housing Authorities from issuing any new vouchers in FY2027, including new Project-Based Voucher commitments. Project-Based Vouchers are a critical tool cities use to make new affordable housing developments financially feasible, and a freeze would stall projects already in the pipeline nationwide.
• Continue to authorize the Restore-Rebuild program, which HUD terminated in May 2026. This program allows Public Housing Authorities to build new affordable housing units and get pre-approval to convert them to a long-term Section 8 rental contract.
• Invest at least $5.1 billion in HUD's Homeless Assistance Grants program and protect Continuum of Care funding from destabilizing changes.
• Fully fund the Public Housing Operating Fund at formula-determined need, plus $598 million to address the cumulative FY25 operating shortfall, and increase Public Housing Capital Fund investment by 20 percent to address the capital needs backlog, account for inflation, and address the new Build America, Buy America (BABA) requirements.
• Fully renew all existing Project-Based Rental Assistance and Project Rental Assistance Contracts.
• Provide at least $1.85 billion for Section 202 Housing for the Elderly, including a $50 million set-aside for very low-income older adults age 55 and up who are at risk of or experiencing homelessness, and expand funding for Section 811 Housing for Persons with Disabilities.
• More robustly fund the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative (CNI) grant program at $500 million, increase the per-project cap for grants using a sliding scale, and extend the commitment period to seven years for larger-scale projects.
• Provide at least $15 million for HUD's Eviction Protection Grant Program.
• Maintain at least $1.1 billion for the Indian Housing Block Grant program and increase the IHBG-Competitive program to $150 million.
• Establish guardrails ensuring the Administration releases congressionally approved funding to communities as intended, without withholding, redirecting, or rescinding it.

Most importantly, we appreciate that the continuing resolution delays implementation of OMB's proposed rule on the Uniform Guidance through December 11, and we ask that the Committees extend this delay for the remainder of FY2027, given the uncertainty the rule would bring to federal assistance programs across all agencies, including HUD, and the unrealistic timeframe OMB has proposed.

Fund the New ROAD to Housing Act Grant Programs and Pilots

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act authorized several new competitive grant programs and pilots that give cities powerful new tools - but most of them were authorized without a funding stream, and HUD must establish several of these programs within statutory deadlines, including all four core grant programs by July 11, 2027. Without appropriations, these tools will exist on paper only. We ask the Committees to appropriate funding for:

• Innovation Fund (§208) - $200 million per year authorized for FY2027-31, in grants of $250,000 to $10 million, rewarding cities that streamline permitting, adopt density bonuses, and increase housing supply.
• Planning and Implementation Grant (§207) - authorized but not yet appropriated; supports regional housing planning, PHA capacity building, and inspection and transportation-housing coordination.
• Preservation and Reinvestment Initiative for Community Enhancement (PRICE) Program (§304) - authorized but not yet appropriated; authorizes a seven-year grant program to preserve manufactured housing, one of the largest sources of naturally occurring affordable housing and homeownership opportunities.
• Pattern Book Grants (§209) - authorized but not yet appropriated; funds pre-reviewed design libraries for ADUs, duplexes, and townhouses, with 10 percent reserved for rural communities.
• RESIDE Conversion Pilot (§210) - grants of $1 million to $10 million, authorized but not yet appropriated, sunsetting September 30, 2031; converts vacant commercial and industrial buildings into affordable housing, prioritizing economically distressed areas.
• Whole-Home Repairs Pilot (§202) - authorized but not yet appropriated; funds comprehensive home repair programs to preserve existing affordable housing stock.
• Family Self-Sufficiency Escrow Pilot (§404) - authorized but not yet appropriated; expands escrow savings tools that help voucher households build assets as their earned income increases.
• Temperature Sensor Pilot Program (§106) - authorized but not yet appropriated; provides grants to PHAs and owners of federally assisted rental housing to install temperature sensors.

Every one of these programs was written into law with bipartisan support. Appropriating funding for them is the difference between a law that helps cities build and preserve housing and one that remains an unfunded mandate.

Resolve Unfinished Housing Priorities in FY2027 Appropriations

The continuing resolution addressed only part of what our communities need. It includes language clarifying that Public Housing Authorities may use FY2026 Tenant Protection Voucher funding to serve families with expiring Emergency Housing Vouchers, but it does not resolve the funding gaps that remain for vouchers and homelessness assistance. As you finalize full-year FY2027 THUD appropriations, we urge you to resolve the following to prevent immediate harm to residents served by HUD homelessness and rental assistance programs:

• Top priority: Include language in both the next continuing resolution and the final FY2027 THUD appropriations bill to noncompetitively renew all expiring FY2026 Continuum of Care (CoC) awards, to prevent an estimated 97,000 people from losing housing assistance. HUD's FY2026 CoC competition has been the subject of ongoing litigation, which makes a statutory backstop essential.
• Build on the CR's Emergency Housing Voucher language by directing HUD to issue Tenant Protection Vouchers to every household holding an Emergency Housing Voucher, with funding sufficient to cover them, to prevent more than 44,000 households from losing assistance and to protect the progress cities have made reducing homelessness through the Emergency Housing Voucher program.
• Provide dedicated funding to prevent shortfalls in housing voucher programs for FY2027, rather than relying on Public Housing Authorities shifting funding away from one program to cover shortfalls in another.

Our residents' housing stability should not be a casualty of the appropriations calendar. Mayors are on the front lines of the affordable housing and homelessness crisis in every region of the country, and the programs above are the tools we use to respond. We urge you to act quickly to fund them fully, and we stand ready to work with you as you finalize FY27 appropriations.

Thank you for your consideration and for your partnership with America's cities.

Sincerely,