NLIHC staff participated in two affordable housing events on Capitol Hill this week. Representative Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ), chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), invited NLIHC Senior Vice President of Policy David Gonzalez Rice to testify for a “shadow hearing” – a Congressional hearing convened by the minority party – on January 14, entitled “Building the New American Dream: Lowering Housing Costs for All.” NLIHC was joined by witnesses from the National Fair Housing Alliance, Terner Center for Housing Innovation, Center for American Progress, and Center for Public Enterprise.
NLIHC's testimony centered the acute shortage of affordable and available housing for the lowest-income families, the need for gap financing through tools like the Housing Trust Fund, and the importance of anti-poverty programs and the social safety net generally to help every family obtain, keep, and thrive in affordable, accessible housing.
CPC leadership also used the hearing as an opportunity to launch CPC's new Lowering Costs Taskforce. Taskforce Chair Ansari, Deputy Chair Ilhan Omar (D-MN), and Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) opened with comments underscoring the severity of the country’s affordable housing crisis and called on progressives to advance the cause of lowering housing costs and boosting housing supply. The event was also attended by Representatives Becca Balint (D-VT), Nanette Barragan (D-CA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Yvette Clarke (D-NY), Maxwell Frost (D-FL), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-IL), Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Teresa Leger Fernández (D-NM), LaMonica McIver (D-NJ), Delia C Ramirez (D-IL), Emily Randall (D-WA), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), Mark Takano (D-CA), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), and Jill Tokuda (D-HI). Find a recording of the hearing here.
NLIHC Senior Director of Policy Kim Johnson joined a Housing Affordability Roundtable on January 14, hosted by the New Democrat Coalition. Coalition Vice Chair Salud Carbajal (D-CA), Housing, Infrastructure, and Transportation Working Group Chair Norma Torres (D-CA), and Housing Task Force Chair Emilia Sykes (D-OH) provided opening remarks, each underscoring the urgency of the affordable housing crisis and the need for comprehensive solutions. Coalition members, including Representatives Marc Veasey (D-TX), Andrea Salinas (D-OR), Lou Correa (D-CA), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Scott Peters (D-CA), Sam Liccardo (D-CA), George Whitesides (D-CA), Jim Himes (D-CT), Lucy McBath (D-GA), Mike Quigley (D-IL), Glenn Ivey (D-MD), and Susie Lee (D-NV) also attended.
NLIHC’s comments focused on the need to target federal resources to families struggling with the most severe housing cost burdens – those with the lowest incomes – and the important role preserving existing affordable housing stock, like public housing, plays in addressing the affordable housing crisis. While the conversation focused primarily on housing supply, speakers also underscored the importance of “demand-side” solutions, like rental assistance, that help people afford the cost of rent for units already on the market. In addition to NLIHC, roundtable guests included the National Association of Home Builders, National Apartment Association, Chicagoland Apartment Association, Up for Growth, Niskanen Center, National Multifamily Housing Council, National Housing Conference, and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials.