Last October, the Boston Globe published an article highlighting that Massachusetts has the fastest growing homeless population in the nation. While I applaud the Commonwealth’s “right to shelter” law and other efforts at the state and local levels to address this problem, there is still much work to be done to provide families with the resources they need to transition out of homelessness. That is why this year I sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee along with more than one hundred of my colleagues requesting increased funds for the HOME Investment Partnership Program, the largest federal block grant which exclusively targets affordable housing for low-income families.

Furthermore, as a veteran, it is painful to see so many military service men and women fall into poverty upon their return home. Veteran homelessness is a crisis that Congress must address by supporting programs at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs that include job-training and improved access to health care.

I am also committed to increasing access to mortgage credit for low and middle-income families. That is why I recently voted for the Preserving Access to Manufactured Housing Act of 2015 (H.R. 650) and the Fair Mortgage Choice Act of 2015 (H.R. 685). It is estimated that nearly 22 million Americans rely on manufactured homes for quality, affordable housing and these pieces of legislation expand opportunities for qualified Massachusetts residents to attain affordable mortgage credit to purchase a home.