The Challenge
Navigate Affordable House Partners, a client of Crossroads Strategies, is a mission-driven non-profit contracted to facilitate the Section 8 program in multiple states. In 2022, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) issued a draft solicitation that, if finalized, would have effectively dismantled the system by which states oversee the Section 8 housing voucher program, eliminating the role that Navigate plays. The efficacy of the Section 8 program in many states is predicated on the experience of organizations like Navigate, but HUD’s draft solicitation would have excluded Navigate from administering contracts in favor of a regional model that would disregard the unique needs of each state.
solution
- Crossroads Strategies organized Navigate’s partner organizations in a coalition effort to educate and engage lawmakers on the potential impact of HUD’s proposed rulemaking.
- CRS recruited dozens of members of congress to send letters to HUD requesting that the department withdraw its draft solicitation.
- CRS drafted language for inclusion in the FY2023 omnibus spending package that barred HUD from using any funding to implement the proposed rulemaking. They built support for this language among appropriators and the signers of the abovementioned letters, creating strong, bi-partisan support in the House and Senate for congressional action on the matter.
results
- The final FY2023 omnibus package included language that barred HUD from implementing the draft solicitation or any solicitation of substantial equivalency.
- As a result, Navigate continues its work towards furthering its mission of investing in communities, providing quality housing options, and offering services to benefit the entire housing industry.