Kathy Castor: “If I had an opportunity to offer my amendment today, an amendment that passed with the support of both parties in last…”

“If I had an opportunity to offer my amendment today, an amendment that passed with the support of both parties in last year's T-HUD appropriations bill, I would raise the fact that the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in many communities across the country, has taken a step back from their mission. They have a very important mission when it comes to homelessness among veterans, ensuring affordable housing partnerships, and combating the foreclosure crisis. Still, last year, we were disserved by the leadership at the Department when they closed a number of field offices all across the country, including the field office in the Tampa Bay area, that I represent, and in the Orlando area. Now, Florida has a population of almost 20 million people. We have 1.5 million veterans, and it is estimated that about 8,000 of them are homeless. We have 47,000 people in Florida that are battling homelessness, and our foreclosure rate is still too high. Nearly 9 percent of all Florida homes with mortgages are in some state of foreclosure. So it was very disturbing last year when HUD pulled back on the ground, closed community offices in Tampa and Orlando. In fact, they shut down 16 field offices. The problem was that they didn't consult Congress, as they were supposed to. They came, they talked with us, but they didn't really allow us any adequate input. I encourage the leaders, like the gentleman from Arizona (Mr.…”