Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

Ms. CASTOR of Florida. Mr. Chair, if I had an opportunity to offer my amendment today, an amendment that passed with the support of both parties in last year's T-HUD appropriations bill, I would raise the fact that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in many communities across the country, has taken a step back from their mission.

They have a very important mission when it comes to homelessness among veterans, ensuring affordable housing partnerships, and combating the foreclosure crisis.

Still, last year, we were disserved by the leadership at the Department when they closed a number of field offices all across the country, including the field office in the Tampa Bay area, that I represent, and in the Orlando area.

Now, Florida has a population of almost 20 million people. We have 1.5 million veterans, and it is estimated that about 8,000 of them are homeless. We have 47,000 people in Florida that are battling homelessness, and our foreclosure rate is still too high. Nearly 9 percent of all Florida homes with mortgages are in some state of foreclosure.

So it was very disturbing last year when HUD pulled back on the ground, closed community offices in Tampa and Orlando. In fact, they shut down 16 field offices. The problem was that they didn't consult Congress, as they were supposed to. They came, they talked with us, but they didn't really allow us any adequate input.

I encourage the leaders, like the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Pastor), who has been on this issue, to continue this dialogue with the Department and the U.S. Senate in conference.

My amendment would have cut the executive office budget of HUD here in Washington, D.C., by $3.5 million and, instead, devoted those funds back to our local communities to fight homelessness among veterans, foreclosures, and the other challenges we face.

The shift of these dollars out of D.C. to our local communities would have sent a very strong message. You know, those fields offices, especially the one I had in the Tampa Bay area, was a critical access point for my neighbors and for many of the community's nonprofits.

We are being hurt by their decision, and all my amendment would have done--and I hope this dialogue will continue--is ensure that the Department remains focused on backing up what they said that they would do to ensure that our local communities would not be hurt by taking away people on the ground that interact on an everyday basis with the people we represent.

So at this time, I want to thank the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Pastor) for his involvement in this issue and urge everyone involved in the negotiations to emphasize the importance of having HUD focused on their mission on the ground in our neighborhoods, in our cities and towns and not on the bureaucracy here in Washington, D.C.

I yield back the balance of my time.

Source