Deficit worries slow funding of Obama homeless programs

[The Northerner]

Lawmakers are skittish about funding new programs to meet President Obama’s ambitious goal of ending homelessness for families, children and veterans in the next decade.

The number of homeless families is rising because of high unemployment and the foreclosure crisis, but lawmakers say helping the new homeless is complicated by concerns over the deficit.

The nation’s $1.2 trillion budget deficit is a “major obstacle” to funding the National Housing Trust Fund, according to Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee and a longtime advocate for low-income housing.

The trust fund was created in 2008 to fund the construction of affordable rental homes for low-income people. Those homes are critical now that the number of homeless families has grown by an estimated 30 percent since 2007, according to government data.

“If it wasn’t for the deficit concern it would have been over already,” Frank said of the legislation funding the trust fund.

“It’s important to have a decent low-income housing program to … act as an alternative for putting low-income people into home ownership, which they can’t afford. But obviously, the concern about the deficit is a major obstacle,” Frank said.

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/109963-deficit-worries-slow-funding-of-obama-homeless-programs-

[Bluebear]

1. Not like we couldn't spare, oh, a half-percent of the defense budget? Oh, no!