Last week, the Low Income Housing Alliance and the Housing Development Consortium were honored to have Congressman Smith join us in Kent to talk about housing and homelessness issues impacting the new and old 9th Congressional District. Joining Smith were Kent City Mayor Suzette Cooke, as well as a panel of affordable housing and homelessness experts including Paul Purcell from Beacon Development, Katie Parker from Mercy Housing Northwest, Tony To from HomeSight, and Dan Watson from King County Housing.

Congressman Smith clearly has an intimate understanding of the federal budget and economics, and he made a compelling case about how our country can move forward. Smith said that, for him, it's a simple equation: are people fairly taken care of? We lose a big portion of the talent in our society when people are taken off of the playing field unfairly and wrongly because they aren't given an opportunity to get the most out of life because of the circumstances they are born into.

Smith said that there is so much talk about closing the deficit by cutting discretionary spending that people forget what discretionary spending actually is. He explained that discretionary spending pays for the basic building blocks that make a fair and just society: affordable housing, education, and roads. Investments in our infrastructure don't just build a more just and fair America, they also help grow the economy. Rather than cutting spending, if we invest in Americans, we can close the deficit by growing the GDP.'

According to Congressman Smith, the number one thing that we, as advocates, can do is to convince the American people that there is in fact a need for revenue. He said that few people realize that we have been severely cutting taxes for 15 years, and that federal tax revenue is 30% less than it was 10 years ago. According to Smith, if we want a decent society, we need revenue for infrastructure. 

Smith helped us imagine a world where Americans who were currently costing the federal government money could, with a little investment from the federal government, went from being drains on the economy to employed, housed individuals who increased economic growth and actually helped decrease the deficit.

But Smith also told us what will happen without revenue. He said that we could make the most compelling case in the world about how important low income housing is, but without revenue those programs will be cut or eliminated. To put things into perspective, Smith laid out the numbers: the entire discretionary budget for the US is about $1.05 trillion. Of that, defense is $550 billion. Per the Budget Contol Act, Congress has to either find at least $1.2 trillion in cuts over ten years. On top of that, there is a large effort to exempt the military from those cuts, which would push the full amount to the discretionary side. Per Smith, we would be looking at a 25% cut in every program outside of defense for ten years.

Smith then told the room that he would not support anything that gets us out of the sequestration requirements in the Budget Control Act by exempting defense.

Throughout the talk, it was clear that Smith has an incredibly deep and rich understanding of the federal budget and the economy, as well as a deep commitment to social justice. He mentioned repeatedly that everyone needs access to affordable housing wherever they are from, and that he is proud to continue supporting housing programs even in this tough budget environment.

All-in-all it was a fantastic event, and we at the Housing Alliance are very grateful to Congressman Adam Smith for taking the time to join us and educate us, and for how thoroughly he understands and supports the issues we care about.