WASHINGTON – Hundreds of protesters from more than a dozen states demonstrated at a Capitol Hill church Wednesday to oppose the Trump administration’s proposed $7 billion cut to federal housing programs.
Holding signs that said “No cuts to our funding” and “Stop selling our neighborhoods to Wall Street”, the protesters chanted and yelled “no cut” as they streamed inside the Lutheran Church of the Reformation.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren joined the group to urge President Donald Trump to restore Housing and Urban Development Department funding and provide good quality homes for people living on low incomes.
“We are here today to say no. No to cuts for housing. No to cuts for cities and towns who are trying to help families with their housing,” the Massachusetts Democrat said.
Trump’s proposal would eliminate housing vouchers for 250,000 households and increase rents for all federally assisted households from the current 30 percent of income to 35 percent, according to the research from Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“The housing developments that are going up, most of the apartments are not for low-income,” said Cheryl Semnack, a volunteer at City Life housing advocacy group in Boston. “They’re for what they call market rent. Nobody can afford market rent. So what is available is very small.”
The protest was sponsored by 24 organizations, including the Center for Popular Democracy, the Center for Community Change and Right to the City.
Published in conjunction with 