March 30, 2007
ZAPPED!
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We'd use one of these if we could. |
Hundreds of Housing Works staff, clients, and friends flooded the phone lines of their delegates to the House of Representatives this week to demand signatures on a letter requesting an increase in funding for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program. The good news? The deadline for representatives to sign the letter was extended, and it’s not clear when it will have to be delivered to the Chair and Ranking Member of the House HUD Appropriations Subcommittee.
“We have a little breathing room with the deadline for the letter being extended,” said Christine Campbell, director of national advocacy and organizing for Housing Works. “We still have a fighting chance of getting a critical mass of reps on board.”
It’s crucial that people continue to contact their representatives and demand support for the HOPWA Programmatic Request letter. Championed by Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), Joseph Crowley (D-NY) and Chris Murphy (D-CT), the letter seeks an increase in HOPWA funds for Fiscal Year 2008 from Bush’s proposed $300 million to $454 million – the level of funding recommended by the National AIDS Housing Coalition.
Keep making those calls! Use Housing Works’ toll-free, direct line to the Capitol Hill switchboard, 888-802-1207 and ask to speak with your representative. Don’t know who represents you in the House? Visit www.house.gov to find out.