The Des MoinesRegister published an opinion piece by Eric Burmeister and Lauren Johnson of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund (PCHTF) and NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel on August 12 calling on Iowans to raise their voices on the issue of affordable housing and to demand the moderators of the next presidential debates call on the candidates to respond. This op-ed is part of the effort by the Our Homes, Our Votes, Our Iowa project, a collaboration between NLIHC and PCHT, to engage 2020 presidential candidates around affordable housing.
The nation’s affordable housing crisis – and how candidates are responding - is gaining increasing news coverage around the country.“Here's how the top Democratic presidential hopefuls would fix the affordable housing”in the Reno Gazette Journal reviews the policy blueprints of nine of the ten top presidential hopefuls. An editorial by The Boston Globe, “Health and stable housing: Taking preventative medicine to the next level,” discusses the close link between health and housing affordability, featuring a significant new effort by three large Boston hospitals to help low-income families stay in their homes. A Yahoo article, “A vicious cycle: high rents are keeping Americans from health care,” reviews a new Enterprise Community Partners report that found 54% of the renters they surveyed indicated that they delayed medical care to pay their rent.
The presidential candidates are addressing the issue of affordable housing and their plans to deal with the crisis on the campaign trail as never before. On August 13, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro visited the Hilltop Apartments, an affordable housing complex in Des Moines, IA. He later spoke at an affordable housing town hall. See media coverage of his visit here and here, and read about another event Secretary Castro conducted in New Hampshire in this Memo to Members and Partners.
Also this past week, Senator Bernie Sanders spoke about affordable housing in New Hampshire, as did Senator Kamala Harris in Iowa.
Our Homes, Our Votes: 2020 is tracking what all candidates are saying on affordable housing. Every week we are adding new content to the candidate pages – so check back often.