February 6, 2007



The Honorable Patty Murray                   The Honorable Christopher Bond       
Senate Committee on Appropriations      Senate Committee on Appropriations       
Washington, DC 20510                           Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairwoman Murray and Ranking Member Bond:

On behalf of the National Housing Conference (NHC), I urge you and your colleagues in the Senate to support the House-passed FY 2007 joint funding resolution (H.J. Res 20). 

NHC is pleased that the joint funding resolution recognizes the importance of housing the nation’s most vulnerable populations by providing additional funding above the FY 2006 funding baseline for Section 8 vouchers, the public housing operating fund and homeless assistance grants. 

Additionally, the funding resolution adopts a voucher funding distribution formula based upon 12 months' worth of cost and leasing data. It is extremely important that the allocation of voucher funds be based on up to date information rather than the 3-month funding “snapshot” approach currently being used.  NHC supports the 12 month funding formula contained in H.J. Res. 20 and believes it will provide a better representation of a public housing agency’s funding needs.

For these reasons, I encourage you to support H.J. Res. 20 and ask your fellow Senators to do the same. 

Thank you for your attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely,

Conrad E. Egan
President & CEO