The HOME Coalition released its new report, “Buiding HOME: The HOME Investment Partnerships Program’s Impact on America’s Families and Communities.” This first-of-its-kind report analyzes HOME’s economic impact–in terms of leveraged investments, jobs supported, and local income generated–at both the national level and in all 50 states. The report also features more than 100 HOME Success Stories from communities across the nation.

According to the report, states and communities have invested $26 billion in HOME funds–leveraging an additional $117 billion in public and private resources–to build or preserve nearly 1.2 million affordable homes and provide direct rental assistance to 270,000 families at risk of homelessness since 1992. The report estimates that this investment has supported 1.5 million jobs and has generated $94.2 billion in local income.

Despite this impressive record, Congress has slashed funding for HOME by 50 percent in recent years–from $1.8 billion in 2010 to an all-time low of $900 million in 2015. Because of the tight spending caps, the House proposed to cut HOME funds to just $767 million or 58 percent less than in 2010. The House also proposes to essentially eliminate another important resource for local communities–the National Housing Trust Fund–and uses this funding to push HOME back to its record low of $900 million. The Senate proposes to severely cut HOME by 93 percent to just $66 million, which would essentially eliminate the program altogether.

HUD reports that if the Senate bill is enacted, approximately 36,000 fewer affordable homes will be built or preserved and nearly 8,200 fewer families will be able to access critical rental assistance annually. The Building HOME report estimates that the Senate bill will result in approximately 36,461 fewer jobs and $2.27 billion less in local income annually.

The report comes at a time when Congress and the White House have reached a possible budget deal to raise the low spending caps required by the Budget Control Act. If enacted, the budget deal means that we are one step closer to ensuring that HOME funding is restored. However, there is still work to be done. Organizations and advocates should continue to urge Congress to not only raise the spending caps, but to direct some of the increased spending to restore HOME to at least $1.06 billion, as requested by the President.

Learn more about HOME’s impact in your community:

Use these resources to engage your members of Congress and local media:

For additional resources, check out the HOME Coalition website and information on the #SaveHOME campaign.