Welcome to Senator John F. Kerry's Online Office Text Version

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At Work in Congress

Building Community & Ensuring Affordable Housing:

America is facing an affordable housing crisis. For thousands upon thousands of low-income families, the disabled and the elderly, the cost of privately owned housing is simply out of reach.

According to the National Housing Conference, more than 14 million working families paid more than half of their income for housing in 2001. There is not one metropolitan area in the country where a minimum wage earner can afford to pay the rent for a two-bedroom apartment. And in areas like Boston, Washington, DC, and Long Island, a worker must earn $20 or more per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment. That means teachers, janitors, social workers, police officers and other full-time workers are struggling to afford even modest housing in cities across the nation.

I am deeply disappointed that in the face of these problems, the Bush Administration is working to dismantle many federal programs that help Americans find affordable housing. The President's 2004 budget proposes cutting $2.45 billion from housing programs and eliminating the HOPE VI program, which has helped revitalize neighborhoods around the country. These cuts come on top of an earlier Administration action to abolish the Public Housing Drug Elimination Grant program. In total, the Bush Administration's policies have assisted in the loss of more than 50,000 affordable housing units since 2000, including 25,000 for seniors and 16,000 for families with children. I opposed these actions and will continue to press for legislation to restore these important federal programs and provide working families the help they need find an affordable home.

I introduced the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act to spur the construction new, affordable rental units for low-income, working families. Its goal is to create 1.5 million affordable, mixed-income developments in areas with the greatest opportunities for low-income families over the next decade. Seventy-five percent of Trust Fund assistance will be given out based on need through matching grants to states. The States will allocate funds on a competitive basis to projects that meet national standards and address local needs. The remainder of the trust will be competitively awarded to private housing groups and used to promote homeownership for low-income Americans. The Trust would be paid for by existing federal housing programs that generate billions in excess income now spent by the government as general revenue.

The Community Development Tax Credit Act: Owning your own home is the foundation of the American dream. Homeownership gives families a greater stake in their communities, improves child development and helps creates economic security. Communities with high ownership rates have lower crime rates, better schools and provide a better quality of life for families. But too many low- and moderate-income families in urban and rural areas cannot share in the dream and benefits of homeownership because housing is simply too expensive. Too many minority families face barriers to home ownership. According to recent Census data, non-Hispanic whites have a 75 percent homeownership rate, while the homeownership rate for African-Americans and Hispanics is less than 50 percent. I introduced the Community Development Homeownership Tax Credit Act to encourage the construction and substantial rehabilitation of approximately 500,000 homes for low- and moderate-income families in economically distressed areas over 10 years.

I have championed funding for the YouthBuild program in the Senate. YouthBuild helps at-risk youth obtain an education and take responsibility for their lives and their communities. Over the past decade, more than 20,000 YouthBuild students have built more than 7,000 housing units in their neighborhoods. Eighty-five percent of the students who complete the YouthBuild program either secure a job or go on to post-secondary education.

Along with Senator Jim Jeffords, I have sponsored the Affordable Housing Preservation Act to foster local partnerships between non-profits, state and local governments, and private landlords to keep existing housing projects available for low-income families. The bill will help preserve existing low-income projects, and increase the number of housing units available to expand through new acquisition and rehabilitation.

"Strong voices for reasonably priced housing are rising, many of them from New England. Senator John Kerry is leading an effort to create a National Affordable Housing Trust that would use parts of the Federal Housing Administration mortgage insurance reserves to create 1.5 million rental apartments for low-income families over the next decade. It's a sound solution that offers hope for many families who now live in subsidized units that are slated for conversion to market rents." (May 20, 2002)