Affordable housing is needed now, more than ever. Between 1100 and 1300 children in Philadelphia sleep in shelters every night of the year! Send Valentine cards to our Senators asking them to "have a heart" and increase federal funding for affordable housing.
Pasted below is information on the campaign. This is a great activity for your Sunday Schools and Youth Groups! And let's not forget to ask our adults to write letters, make valentines and phone calls as well ! Set up a table following worship or study sessions.
Our Interfaith voices do make a difference.
With every good wish,
Rachel Falkove, Executive Director
Interfaith Hospitality Network of NW Philadelphia
Rabbi George Stern, Executive Director
Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM)
Shoshana Bricklin, Advocacy Coordinator
Interfaith Advocates
Anna Guarneri, Council Coordinator
NIM
With every good wish,
Rachel Falkove, Executive Director
Interfaith Hospitality Network of NW Philadelphia
Rabbi George Stern, Executive Director
Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM)
Shoshana Bricklin, Advocacy Coordinator
Interfaith Advocates
Anna Guarneri, Council Coordinator
NIM
Interfaith Advocates presents:
Hearts for Homes !
Send a Valentines Day Message to Senators Specter and Casey, telling them how much we love the idea of funding affordable housing. Ask them to support House Joint Resolution 20, which funds affordable housing programs for 2007, and to support increases for next years budget as well.
Senator Arlen Specter Senator Robert Casey
600 Arch Street Harrisburg Office
Suite 9400 555 Walnut Street, First Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106 Harrisburg, PA 17101
Be creative and have fun! Hearts, flowers, ribbons, lace, poems, giant group projects and tiny individual cards?..We'll hand deliver them to our Senators with a box of chocolates to make a sweet impression!
Please bring all cards to Interfaith Advocates c/o NIM and NPIHN at 7047 Germantown Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19119 by Monday February 12th
Please see background information and sample messages below.
Dear Senator Specter:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Vote for Affordable Housing
And I’ll love you !
Love,
Sarah
…..congregation
….address
Dear Senator Casey:
Be my Valentine! I know a family that has no home. Please make sure that every family in PA, and in our nation, has a home. Between 1100 and 1300 children in my city sleep in shelters each night.
Please Vote for HJ 20.
Love, Jesse
Dear Senator:
“Home is where the heart is”. All people need a place to call “home.”
VOTE for a budget that funds more affordable housing (HJ20).
Please share the love in your heart with ALL people !
Thanks !!!
Love, Max
Senator Arlen Specter Senator Robert Casey
600 Arch Street Harrisburg Office
Suite 9400 555 Walnut Street, First Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19106 Harrisburg, PA 17101
Be creative and have fun! Hearts, flowers, ribbons, lace, poems, giant group projects and tiny individual cards?..We'll hand deliver them to our Senators with a box of chocolates to make a sweet impression!
Please bring all cards to Interfaith Advocates c/o NIM and NPIHN at 7047 Germantown Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19119 by Monday February 12th
Please see background information and sample messages below.
Dear Senator Specter:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Vote for Affordable Housing
And I’ll love you !
Love,
Sarah
…..congregation
….address
Dear Senator Casey:
Be my Valentine! I know a family that has no home. Please make sure that every family in PA, and in our nation, has a home. Between 1100 and 1300 children in my city sleep in shelters each night.
Please Vote for HJ 20.
Love, Jesse
Dear Senator:
“Home is where the heart is”. All people need a place to call “home.”
VOTE for a budget that funds more affordable housing (HJ20).
Please share the love in your heart with ALL people !
Thanks !!!
Love, Max
ACTION ALERT!! February 6, 2007
Tell our Senators “have a heart” and support funds for affordable housing!
On January 31 the US House of Representatives voted 286-140 to pass H.J. Res. 20, the Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) joint funding resolution. The resolution provides appropriations for all programs covered by the nine spending bills left unfinished by the last Congress, including much needed funding for affordable housing.
The Senate is expected to take up the resolution either late in the week of February 5 or early in the week of February 12. The House version of H.J. Res. 20 increases funding for affordable housing. If passed by the Senate, funding levels would increase on many important affordable housing programs such as Housing Choice Vouchers, Project Based Section 8, Public Housing and Homeless Assistance Grants. Other programs that had been slated for reductions by last year’s Congress such as Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Supportive Housing for the Elderly and Lead Hazard Reduction, would not happen.
To forestall the possibility of amendments, Senate leadership may wait until close to February 15, when the current continuing resolution expires. If any amendments to the resolution are adopted, the resolution would have to go to a conference committee to work out differences with the House bill.
Action is needed NOW!!
Call, fax or e-mail Senators Specter and Casey and ask them, in time for Valentines Day to “have a heart” and
Support House Joint Resolution 20 which funds affordable housing programs for this year.
Also let Senators Specter and Casey know that housing funding for low-income and homeless families must be adequately funded in the Fiscal Year 2008 budget!
Senator Arlen Specter
600 Arch Street
Tell our Senators “have a heart” and support funds for affordable housing!
On January 31 the US House of Representatives voted 286-140 to pass H.J. Res. 20, the Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) joint funding resolution. The resolution provides appropriations for all programs covered by the nine spending bills left unfinished by the last Congress, including much needed funding for affordable housing.
The Senate is expected to take up the resolution either late in the week of February 5 or early in the week of February 12. The House version of H.J. Res. 20 increases funding for affordable housing. If passed by the Senate, funding levels would increase on many important affordable housing programs such as Housing Choice Vouchers, Project Based Section 8, Public Housing and Homeless Assistance Grants. Other programs that had been slated for reductions by last year’s Congress such as Community Development Block Grants (CDBG), Supportive Housing for the Elderly and Lead Hazard Reduction, would not happen.
To forestall the possibility of amendments, Senate leadership may wait until close to February 15, when the current continuing resolution expires. If any amendments to the resolution are adopted, the resolution would have to go to a conference committee to work out differences with the House bill.
Action is needed NOW!!
Call, fax or e-mail Senators Specter and Casey and ask them, in time for Valentines Day to “have a heart” and
Support House Joint Resolution 20 which funds affordable housing programs for this year.
Also let Senators Specter and Casey know that housing funding for low-income and homeless families must be adequately funded in the Fiscal Year 2008 budget!
Senator Arlen Specter
600 Arch Street
Suite 9400
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Tel: 215-597-7200
Fax: 215-597-0406
OR—e-mail him by going to his website at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://specter.senate.gov
and follow the link to “Contact Form” (under Contact Information).
OR—e-mail him by going to his website at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://specter.senate.gov
and follow the link to “Contact Form” (under Contact Information).
Senator Robert Casey
555 Walnut Street, First Floor
555 Walnut Street, First Floor
Harrisburg, PA 17101
Phone: 717-231-7540
Fax: 717-231-7542
OR—e-mail him by going to his website at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://casey.senate.gov
and follow the link to “Contact.”
Join our coalition of caring community members, congregants and the homeless and formerly homeless, working to bring about positive social change on behalf of low income families.
OR—e-mail him by going to his website at:
http://www.congress.org/congressorg/webreturn/?url=http://casey.senate.gov
and follow the link to “Contact.”
Join our coalition of caring community members, congregants and the homeless and formerly homeless, working to bring about positive social change on behalf of low income families.
For more information, call: 215-247-4663 x 142 or e-mail: shoshana@philashelter.org. Interfaith Advocates is a cooperative program of, the Neighborhood Interfaith Movement (NIM) and the Interfaith Hospitality Network of NW Philadelphia.
- FAST FACTS FOR YOUR “VALENTINE” ON THE NEED FOR AFFORDABLE HOMES AND FY07 FUNDING RESOLUTION
(sources: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Housing Alliance of PA and the National Low Income Housing Coalition)
· The fastest growing homeless group in the U.S. is families with children.
· Lack of affordable housing and the limited scale of housing assistance programs are the primary causes of homelessness. The growing gap between the number of affordable housing units and the number of people needing them has created a housing crisis for poor people.
· Rents are beyond reach of working Pennsylvanians: A full-time worker in PA must earn $13.09 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent. In Philadelphia this cost rises to $17.15 per hour needed.
· Housing assistance can make the difference between stable housing, precarious housing, or no housing at all—but most poor families and individuals seeking housing assistance are placed on long waiting lists.
· 26.3% of all households in Pennsylvania spend more than thirty percent of their income on housing and 10.9% of Pennsylvania households spend more than fifty percent of their income on housing.
· On any given night in Philadelphia, between 1100 and 1300 children are homeless.
· The FY07 joint funding resolution will provide each housing authority with sufficient funds to renew all of their housing vouchers.
· Without the housing voucher increase, another 70,000 vouchers will be lost in FY07.
· The joint resolution increases funding for public housing operations by $300 million over the FY06 level. Without this increase, housing authorities will be funded at 76% of what HUD knows they need to operate their 1.2 million units.
· The joint resolution increases funding for homeless assistance programs by $115 million over the FY06 level. Without this increase, thousands of homeless people, who be housed otherwise, will remain homeless in FY07.
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