Call Your State Legislators - Say No to State Budget Cuts
May 18, 2009
Cathedral Shelter of Chicago’s supportive housing program, Cressey House, provides a home and critical services to 28 households – 28 single parents and their children. Our state grant helps provide funding for case management services ensuring that these folks are able to sustain affordable housing and make transformational changes in their lives and the lives of their children.
Cathedral Shelter’s supportive housing grant from the state is $65,861. Without this important funding we cannot provide services.
The realities are difficult for our state: The state is $12 billion in debt. Federal economic stimulus funding will fill in $4 billion, leaving the state $8 billion in debt.
The House is putting together a “Doomsday Budget” that may come out before the end of this week, May 23. It has only funding for programs and projects for which the state receives federal funding, either Medicaid reimbursement or stimulus funding. Everything else, including supportive housing service funding is either zeroed out, cut by 75%, or cut by 25%. This budget is a scare tactic, but it will be very real if we cannot generate the rest of the votes needed to pass an income tax increase.
Gov. Quinn has proposed an income tax increase from a rate of 3% to a rate of 4.5% with protections for low and moderate income households.
There are only 40 votes in the state House for an income tax increase. 60 votes are needed for it to pass.
My personal feelings aside about an income tax increase, I shudder to imagine the impact of such drastic cuts to Illinois’ most vulnerable citizens.
I would like each of you to:
Call your state senators and representatives in their Springfield offices.*
Give your name and address, say you are a constituent and a registered voter.
Ask: Will you vote for an income tax increase to protect the funding for supportive housing and other vital services to keep 8,300 men, women, and children from returning to homelessness?
If you actually talk with your legislator, wait for her or him to respond and make a note of what they say.
If you leave a message for your legislator, leave the above question, and ask for a return call from your legislator. Leave your phone number.
Email me to say you did it, who you called, and their response if you got one.
Ask others in your own personal networks to do the same.
* Not sure who your state legislators are? Go to http://www.elections.state.il.us. Click “by address”. Type in the address of your agency, your supportive housing, or your own address. Click “Search”. Click on the names of your STATE senator and your STATE representative (the second and third names on the list). Their contact information will come up. Call their Springfield offices.
* Know who your state legislators are but need their Springfield phone number? Go to http://www.ilga.gov. Under the headings Senate and House, click on Members. Find your rep and click on their name. Their contact info will come up.
