Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

Founded in 1981, the Center on Budget and Policies Priorities (the Center) is a non-partisan, nonprofit research and policy institute with deep expertise in federal and state budget and tax policy and government programs and policies that impact the lives of low-income families and individuals. The Center’s work on the design and implementation of a range of public programs and policies has resulted in concrete measures that have improved the economic security and well-being of tens of millions of people with low or modest incomes. This award provides general operating support to the Center, whose work addresses both short- and long-term budget and related economic challenges. The intended outcome of the Center’s work is to ensure that policies are fiscally responsible while enabling the nation to fulfill its commitments and respond to critical unmet needs, particularly for disadvantaged populations. Over the long term, the goal is to restore long-term sustainability to the federal budget in ways that do not increase poverty, widen inequality, or lessen opportunity.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (the Center) conducts research and analysis to inform and shape debates over proposed budget and tax policies, to develop new policy ideas, and to ensure that policymakers consider the needs of low-income families and individuals in these debates. The grant supports the Center's Housing Program to leverage key openings presented by administrative rulemaking, new and emerging evidence, and federal tax reform debates to shift the imbalance of federal housing policy toward more support of rental housing. The Center is focused on creating better and more opportunities to provide housing assistance that increases the chances of low-income families with children to experience upward economic mobility.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a key grantee in Policy Research’s institutional support portfolio, provides research and analysis on fiscal policy matters and policies affecting low- and moderate-income families. This grant renews the Center’s general operating support, enabling it to conduct rigorous analysis and to develop and advance innovative approaches to address the fiscal and programmatic policy challenges ahead. Debates over the nation’s revenue and spending options are expected to intensify in the coming years, and the Center will help ensure that policymakers, the media and the public understand the choices and the consequences.

Even as states gradually recover from the fiscal crisis induced by the recession, they continue to face challenges as federal funding declines and pressure for more regressive economic and fiscal policies persists. This grant renews support for the State Fiscal Project at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which will conduct research and analysis to help states identify potential new revenue sources; educate and inform state policymakers about the long-term consequences of policy choices; and build the capacity of state-level organizations, particularly those in the State Fiscal Analysis Initiative network, to educate and inform policymakers on state fiscal issues.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is one of the nation’s leading policy organizations working on federal and state fiscal policy and public programs that affect low- and moderate-income families and individuals. The grant will provide support for the Center’s housing efforts, with a specific focus on refining a renters’ tax credit proposal it has developed with prior Foundation funding. The Center also will explore reforms to rental housing programs that would improve access to opportunity neighborhoods.