Agenda Why advocate 115th Congress Advocacy Strategies & Getting Involved Why this year is important: Opportunities and Challenges Advocacy Examples Interactive Activity Q&A

ADVOCACY: What is it? Advocacy: “the active support of an idea or cause” Ranges from general issue education to lobbying around specific legislation Federal, state, local levels of government Alliance focuses on federal advocacy

FEDERAL ADVOCACY: Why is it important? Homeless assistance programs rely on federal funding to operate Local capacity to end homelessness depends on programs like the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants

FEDERAL ADVOCACY: Why is it important? Congress relies on constituents for information YOU are the experts on this issue! Up to YOU to give people experiencing homelessness a stronger voice in the political process Involve clients to directly advocate as much as possible

115th Congress: Partisan Balance 535 Members 291 Republicans (54%); 239 Democrats (45%); 2 independents; and 3 vacancies Republicans lost a net 6 seats in the House but maintained a 241:194 majority Republicans lost a net 2 seats in the Senate but maintained a 52:46 majority 218 votes needed in the House (simple majority) 51 votes needed in senate, but 60 votes needed for cloture

Changes from 114th – 115th Congress House: Party 114th 115th Gain/Loss Democratic 188 194 +6 Republican 247 241 -6 Independent +2 Total 435 N/A Party Senate: Party 114th 115th Gain/Loss Democratic 44 46 +2 Republican 54 52 -2 Independent 2 Total 100 N/A

How Will This Impact Our Work? Republican support will be critical! In both Chambers for appropriations Especially in the Senate for blocking harmful authorizing legislation Government spending is more conservative when Republicans are in power We will need to ramp up advocacy to make a strong case for funding homeless assistance programs!

Identifying Targets Targets = Members with the most power to grant our request Identifying targets helps us use our time efficiently Who make ideal targets? Members on the Appropriations Committee and relevant Subcommittees like T-HUD (Especially Chairs / Ranking Members) Members on relevant Authorizing Committees Congressional Leadership

Identifying Champions Research/get to know each of your Members Is the Member particularly interested in helping a certain population? What issues is the Member engaged in? What motivates the Member? Faith, morality Results, cost savings Advocate early to your new Members of Congress

Priority “asks” this year Provide $2.487 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento programs in FY 17 Provide at least 2.6 billion for HUD’s McKinney-Vento programs in FY 18 Expand NDD and HUD Funding Support proposals to increase housing affordability Do not repeal Medicaid expansion

Alliance’s Homelessness Funding Campaign Send emails followed up by calls to your congressional delegations Ask your local leaders to tell your congressional delegations how important it is to fund efforts to end homelessness Public Sector (Mayor, City Council, Governor, State Legislators, State department heads) Others (Board, CoC, Community Action Agency, faith-based partners, Campaign contributors) Site visits during late April recess Meetings in DC during Capitol Hill Day in July

Getting Involved in 2017 Join our Advocacy Update list Sign up here or on the Alliance Advocacy Info Table on the app

Sustained Advocacy: Effective Strategies Regular personalized calls and emails Meetings at your district offices Raise the issue at town hall and other public events Call on MOC to do more or thank them Continued mobilization of key local players *Don’t let Members off the hook! *Often the more work, the more effective

Have more questions? Want to get involved? Please email: Julie Klein jklein@naeh.org / (202) 942-8281