Public Policy
Rebuilding Together is the nation’s largest volunteer home rehabilitation organization, providing repairs and modifications free of charge to homeowners in need. With the support of private industry and 275,000 volunteers, the 232 Rebuilding Together affiliates in 46 states work to preserve and revitalize over 1800 communities nationwide by repairing and upgrading over 10,000 owner-occupied homes and community centers each year.
Established in 1988, Rebuilding Together’s core mission is to provide free home repair and rehabilitation services to low-income homeowners. Central to that mission is serving the elderly, the disabled, families with children, and veterans. Improving home energy efficiency and conservation are also part of Rebuilding Together’s programming efforts. Further, Rebuilding Together has assumed an important role in disaster recovery and reconstruction initiatives in the Gulf.
Rebuilding Together is unique in its mission of preserving the owner-occupied houses of those in need. To strengthen this distinctive role, Rebuilding Together is enhancing its advocacy and public policy program by creating greater visibility in Washington for Rebuilding Together and its mission; connecting the national network of Rebuilding Together affiliates with their members of Congress; taking positions on policy issues that are important to the community of housing organizations; strengthening Rebuilding Together’s place at the public policy table discussing low-income housing issues; and working to expand available resources and programs for the affiliates.
The following are among the policy issues being considered for particular attention by Rebuilding Together:
Homeownership preservation
- Support enactment of a National Housing Trust Fund.
- Support funding for the HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program and the National Community Development Initiative (NCDI).
- Support funding for the Home Investment Partnership Program (HOME).
Elderly homeownership issues
- Support enactment of Elder Falls legislation, such as S. 845 by Sens. Mike Enzi (R-Wyoming) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), which would provide federal funding for demonstration and research programs aimed at reducing the incidents of senior citizens falling and injuring themselves.
Home Modifications, Energy Efficiency
- Support enactment of Green Housing legislation, such as H.R. 1259 by Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), which would provide federal funding to non-profits for carrying out home energy efficiency improvements.
Veterans Housing
- Support funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Specially Adapted Housing program (SAH), which provides grants to disabled veterans for modifying their houses to make them more accessible and functional.
Disaster Recovery
- Assure that the use of federal Gulf Coast disaster relief funds being distributed by the affected states appropriately address the needs of homeowners.
Rural Housing
- Assure that federal funding through Department of Agriculture Rural Development programs appropriately address the needs of homeowners.
As public policy issues are reviewed and adopted by the Rebuilding Together Board, further information will be made available.