With mortgage rates at near 40-year lows, home sales have been at record levels and housing prices have increased sharply in many areas.  Many existing homeowners have benefited from rising equity.

 

Despite these gains, higher housing prices are causing problems for moderate income households who rent or want to buy a first home.  There has also been a surge in lower-income homeownership over the past five years, but more owners are having trouble paying their housing costs as property taxes increase rapidly.

 

For thousands of low-income families with children, the disabled, and the elderly, the cost of housing is simply too great.  It is estimated that more than 14 million working families faced critical housing needs, defined as paying more than 50 percent of their income on housing.  Sadly, America does not have one metropolitan area where a minimum wage earner can afford to pay the rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

 

Affordable housing promotes more stable families, healthier children and increased economic self-sufficiency for low-income families working to transition off of public assistance and improve their lives.  I strongly support preserving and expanding affordable housing and homeownership opportunities for the American people, and I oppose cuts to the Section 8 voucher program.