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Building Community & Ensuring Affordable Housing:

A merica 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.

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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.