Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a national leader in efforts to increase affordable housing, welcomed a move today that could free up hundreds of millions of dollars to expand affordable rental housing nationwide.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency ended its temporary suspension of contributions to funds designed to allow more renters to find the homes they need at prices they can afford. The agency that oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ordered those companies to begin to make payments to affordable housing funds next year. The money will go into a fund to provided dedicated revenue for low-income housing. States and local agencies then could apply for the money and use it to finance very low-income rental housing construction or rehabilitation projects.
"This is really excellent news," said Sanders, who first proposed legislation in 2001 to create the Housing Trust Fund. "It is no secret that over the past decade, incomes have not come close to keeping pace with the escalating costs of housing. At a time when millions of families are struggling to get by and when many households are spending 50 percent or more of their limited income on housing, the trust fund will provide resources to build the affordable housing we desperately need and create thousands of good-paying jobs."
The National Low Income Housing Coalition had estimated that in 2012 there were only 3.2 million rental housing units available and affordable for the 10.3 million extremely low-income households that need them. Sheila Crowley, the coalition president, cited Sanders' role in a statement celebrating a great victory for the homeless and poor. "At long last, the National Housing Trust Fund will have funds to begin to ameliorate the shortage of housing that they can afford. I am very grateful to Senator Bernie Sanders for championing the NHTF since the first days of our campaign in 2001."
In Vermont, Erhard Mahnke of the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition said he was "absolutely thrilled at this wonderful news." He said the funding "will create much-needed housing that is affordable to low-income Vermonters working at low-wage service sector jobs or living on fixed incomes."
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