Washington, D.C. – Montana Governor Steve Bullock has joined other Democratic presidential candidates in recognizing that affordable homes are the foundation to one’s wellbeing and that bold action is needed to address the nation’s dire shortage of affordable housing. Governor Bullock has released a proposal to make housing more affordable in America by establishing a federal renters tax credit, increasing funding for the national Housing Trust Fund, lifting the moratorium on building new public housing, funding more Project-Based Rental Assistance projects, and more.
Governor Bullock cites the pervasiveness of the nation’s affordable housing crisis and how it impacts people across the country—whether in urban, suburban or rural areas. There is a nationwide shortage of 7 million homes affordable and available to the lowest-income renters. Fewer than four rental homes are affordable and available for every ten of the lowest-income households, and just one in four deeply poor families that qualify for housing assistance receives it. In 99% of counties in the U.S., a full-time minimum-wage worker cannot afford a one-bedroom rental home at the fair market rent, and seven out of the ten fastest-growing occupations in the U.S. do not pay enough to afford even a one-bedroom rental.
As the crisis worsens, voters are demanding responses from presidential candidates. Governor Bullock has joined other candidates in responding, putting forth a proposal to address the housing needs of millions of low-income people in America.
NLIHC’s nonpartisan Our Homes, Our Votes: 2020 candidate and voter engagement project is elevating solutions to the nation’s housing crisis in the presidential campaign and tracking what all the candidates have to say about housing and homelessness: www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org
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NLIHC has launched the nonpartisan Our Homes, Our Votes 2020 voter and candidate engagement project to raise the issue of affordable housing in the 2020 elections, to urge candidates to discuss how they will deal with the crisis, to track their comments and proposals, and to engage more low-income renters in the voting. Learn more at: https://www.ourhomes-ourvotes.org/