Candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination continue to release new plans to address the nation’s serious shortage of affordable housing and provide tenant protections. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) has released significant additional components to her previously announced plan, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg announced the broad outline of his affordable housing proposals, the details of which are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
Senator Warren released a "Protecting and Empowering Renters" plan that builds on her earlier proposal to address the nation’s affordable housing crisis and dramatically expands tenant protections. Her original plan dedicates $500 billion over the next ten years to build, preserve, and rehab more than three million homes affordable to lower-income families. She further proposes to condition this funding to states that affirmatively adopt key tenant protections, including a right to lease renewal, a ban on source-of-income discrimination, protections against constructive eviction, and tenants’ right to organize, among others. The expanded proposal would create a new tenants’ cause of action that allows tenants to sue landlords who threaten or begin an illegal eviction; would create a new Tenant Protection Bureau to enforce tenants’ rights; and much more.
In a visit to New Hampshire on November 8, South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg unveiled a summary of his soon-to-be released plan to invest more than $430 billion on programs to address the national shortage of affordable homes and to lower housing costs. Mayor Buttigieg’s plan proposes to “unlock access to affordable housing for over 7 million families” and to increase the supply of affordable housing by building and restoring over 2 million homes for low-income Americans.