Dear Chair Hyde-Smith, Ranking Member Gillibrand, Chair Womack, and Ranking Member Clyburn: 

The undersigned X organizations working in rural, urban, and suburban America urge you to provide funding for two important programs in the FY2026 Transportation-Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill: at least $20 million for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program (SHOP) and $6 million for the Rural Capacity Building (RCB) Program.  

SHOP, which has bipartisan support year after year, is a small, unique program that supports the work of nonprofit organizations that employ the self-help homeownership model, a method that has assisted tens of thousands of low-income families and fostered them to be committed, successful homeowners. SHOP funds are used to defray land acquisition and infrastructure costs — some of the most difficult activities for housing nonprofits to finance. 

National and regional nonprofits compete for SHOP allocations annually through HUD and then sub-grant funding to hundreds of local community organizations. Funds have been disbursed to every state, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 

SHOP is one of HUD’s most powerful tools focused solely on low-income homeownership supply. This effective program has enabled local nonprofit organizations since 1996 to build more than 35,000 homes and house more than 100,000 adults and children. Of these homes, over 40% are in rural areas, and nearly 60% of the families served have incomes below 50% of the area median income (AMI). SHOP grantees have raised a significant amount of private leverage and brought in over $4 billion of investment into communities. Additionally, the demand for SHOP funding far outweighs what is available. During the most recent funding round, the SHOP grantees received approximately $55 million in funding requests. This is $43 million more than the $12 million that was allocated by Congress in FY2024.

HUD’s RCB program allows national organizations to provide a wide range of assistance to local rural housing nonprofits and others working to address affordable housing and economic development needs to build stronger communities. This program provides training, technical assistance, information, and financing aimed at the high-need rural communities across the country. Ultimately, RCB helps to bring capacity and loan and operating capital to areas where they are needed most. 

We know the importance of a safe and affordable home. However, affordable housing development and construction activities across the country have become more difficult and expensive, while our country faces a historic low supply of affordable homes, especially for entry-level homeownership.   

Given the overwhelming need for this assistance, we respectfully request that you provide at least $20 million for the Self-Help Homeownership Opportunity Program and $6 million for the Rural Capacity Building Program in the FY2026 T-HUD appropriations bill to ensure that our nation’s needs are served. Also, as you consider FY2026 funding, we urge you to provide further appropriations to the Self-Help Assisted Homeownership Opportunity Program Account, which supports many critical HUD programs, in order to accommodate the additional requested funds for the SHOP program. 

Additionally, we urge you to engage with HUD to disburse all SHOP and RCB funds that have been awarded under prior year appropriations and in future years, in a timely and efficient manner. It is critically important that these programs continue to receive robust funding and be disbursed quickly to support our local communities across the nation.  

Thank you for your consideration of this request, and for your support of affordable homeownership and stronger communities. 

Sincerely,