Nine senators introduced a bill (S.3231) to establish a bipartisan Task Force to evaluate and create recommendations regarding the nation’s affordable housing crisis. Senators Todd Young (R-IN), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Angus King (I-MA), Dean Heller (R-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Chris Coons (D-DE) introduced the bill to evaluate and quantify how the affordable housing crisis impacts life outcomes and increases costs for non-housing programs at the federal, state, and local levels. The task force will also make recommendations to Congress on how to use affordable housing to improve the effectiveness of other federal programs.
In the senators’ press release announcing the bill, NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel said, “The National Low Income Housing Coalition strongly supports legislation introduced by Senators Angus King and Todd Young to create a task force to quantify the multi-sector benefits of affordable homes. Housing affordability is a key driver of improved health, increased educational attainment, and greater lifetime earnings, among many other things. I commend Senators King and Young for their leadership in recognizing that federal investments in affordable homes have positive and far-reaching impacts for the millions of extremely low-income people who struggle to pay rent and make ends meet, as well as for our nation’s economy and its future.”
Read more about the bill at: https://bit.ly/2L6iEXs