The Democratic National Committee (DNC) published its draft party platform on Friday. The DNC Party Platform Drafting Committee voted on the draft 2016 party platform the previous week (see Memo, 6/27) after having received testimony from 114 people during two recent public hearings and additional testimony submissions from over 1,000 organizations and individuals. The full DNC Party Platform Committee will review and vote on the draft platform on Friday, July 8. The platform will be finalized at the Democratic Party Convention in late July.
As reported previously, the platform includes a housing plank that commits to substantially increase funding for the national Housing Trust Fund to construct, preserve, and rehabilitate millions of affordable housing rental units. The Platform notes that such an expansion would “not only help address the affordable housing crisis, it will also create millions of good paying jobs in the process.”
The draft housing plank also commits to increasing incentives for new affordable rental housing development and easing local barriers to building affordable housing in areas of economic opportunity. It states that Democrats will “reinvigorate federal housing production programs, increase resources to repair public housing, and increase funding for the housing choice voucher program,” as well as ensure sufficient funding to end chronic homelessness and defend and strengthen the Fair Housing Act.
The DNC draft party platform is here: http://bit.ly/29yUNcW
NLIHC’s testimony to the Platform Drafting Committee is at: http://bit.ly/291S4vT
Former NLIHC President and CEO Sheila Crowley’s testimony before the drafting committee is at: http://bit.ly/28XsHv3