Kerry's Record on Building Community & Ensuring Affordable Housing:

Here is some of my work in the Senate to help families with affordable housing.

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.

Related Links

	Kerry Record
	Press Releases
	Floor Statements

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.

YouthBuild
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.

The Affordable Housing Preservation Act
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.

Boston Globe:
"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)

Links:
National Low Income Housing Coalition
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Citizens Housing and Planning Association
YouthBuild USA