Funding Cuts to NeighborWorks Worry Affordable Housing Groups
Amid DOGE scrutiny, NeighborWorks and several network nonprofits explained the importance of the funding to the nation’s affordable housing infrastructure.
Affordable housing and community development groups across the country are stepping up to defend the work of NeighborWorks America, a congressionally chartered nonprofit corporation that advances affordable mortgage financing and construction of low-income and workforce housing. Last week, news emerged that members of the Department of Government Efficiency had assigned a team to review NWA funding.
For more than 45 years, NWA has provided grants and technical assistance to nearly 250 community development organizations across the U.S. While it receives some private funding and contributions, most of its budget is funded by annual appropriations directly from Congress. It does not have any federal employees. For Fiscal Year 2023, NWA had a total of $232.5 million in funding, including $166 million in core Congressional appropriations. NWA then disperses this funding to its network organizations.
The initial alarm was spread by David Dworkin, president & CEO of the National Housing Conference, who alerted members in a bulletin late last week urging them to reach out to Republican members of Congress and make it clear to the Trump administration that NWA plays an important role in housing affordability across the nation. The NHC bulletin said it was drawing attention to the situation immediately due to the speed at which DOGE had previously dismantled the United States Institutes of Peace, another congressionally-funded nonprofit.
In a statement provided to Multi-Housing News, NWA spokesperson Douglas Robinson said that NWA and its network of locally-managed and focused nonprofits “have been prudent and efficient stewards of federal dollars, working in such a way that in FY 2024, for every one dollar of federal investment, our network attracted 71 more dollars of additional public and private capital for affordable housing.”
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Noting that the NWA has delivered affordable housing opportunities for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, Robinson added, “There is no organization – public or private – that has similar positive multiplier effects in support of affordable housing for the American people.”
John O’Callaghan, president & CEO of Atlanta Neighborhood Development Partnership, Inc. said his group joined NWA about 12 years ago, enabling the organization to double its scale over the past five years to provide affordable homes and mortgages in its home city.
O’Callaghan said that the NWA funding, which in recent years has been about $500,000 annually, has helped ANDP build capital reserves, boost its fundraising and attract partners and investors for its projects. O’Callaghan explained audits conducted by NWA every three years of its organization are like a “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” for groups like ANDP.
O’Callaghan also pointed to the peer networking and training provided to the national groups by NWA, noting that he has monthly virtual meetings with other Southeast NWA partner organizations. Additionally, his staff have attended educational sessions.
Linda Mandolini, CEO of Eden Housing, a nonprofit affordable housing organization in Hayward, Calif., said NWA is an important part of the national affordable housing infrastructure that works in rural, suburban and urban settings.
“Not only do they invest in operating and project support for their network members, but they also provide training that supports and expands capacity in development and management of affordable rental housing and homebuyer lending and counseling,” she told MHN.
“Eden has greatly benefited from NeighborWorks,” Mandolini said. “Their support has been especially critical to our efforts to serve rural communities in California, where we are able to support the housing needs of the agriculture and tourism industries.”
HUD cuts also a concern
Groups are also concerned about possible cuts by the Trump administration to the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, alongside the programs that it provides for low-income renters. Kim Johnson, manager of public policy at the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said they are anticipating the Trump administration “will propose massive cuts to HUD programs” in Fiscal Year 2026.
“During the first Trump term, the president’s budget requests proposed cuts to HUD ranging from 12 to 18 percent, including a proposal that would have resulted in 200,000 households losing their rental assistance,” Johnson said.
She said the last government funding bill (fiscal year 2025) underfunded HUD programs, including the Housing Choice Voucher and Homeless Assistance Grants program.
“As a result of underfunding, an estimated 32,000 HCVs will be lost through attrition, and around 18,500 households will not receive needed services to prevent and end homelessness,” Johnson told MHN.
Johnson said Congress will also need to renew funding for the Emergency Housing Voucher program, which funds 60,000 vouchers for people and families experiencing or at immediate risk of homelessness, as well as survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, stalking and human trafficking.
“Because of the high increase in the cost of rent, funding for the program ran out significantly more quickly than lawmakers anticipated,” she noted.
