House Unanimously Passes Duffy Amendment

Press Release

The House of Representatives unanimously passed U.S. Representative Sean Duffy's amendment to the Transportation and Housing & Urban Development Appropriations bill (T-HUD) that would help curb homelessness in rural communities.

The formulation of this amendment stemmed from Rep. Duffy's 2013 Hunger & Homelessness Summit which focused on not just meeting the needs of the hungry and homeless in our rural 7th District community, but what could be done to prevent them from becoming homeless in the first place. In his comments during debate, Rep. Duffy explained the plight of poverty in rural communities, "The pain of poverty affects our communities in rural America just like in urban America, but often times it can be a lot more complicated. The face of poverty is different in rural America. Instead of having families move out onto the street, often time we see neighbors -- 2 or 3 families -- moving into a single bedroom apartment so they can give their kids shelter."

Mr. Duffy's amendment puts $10 million in the Rural Housing Stability Assistance program from money that was set aside to address homelessness. This program was created for rural communities in 2009, but has never been funded. This program provides funding for people that are at risk of being homeless, but not already living on the streets.

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