Affordable housing advocates and homebuilders are pushing President Biden to take another crack at expanding affordable housing despite partisan divides in Congress.
During Biden’s Tuesday night State of the Union address, the president announced a plan to end homelessness for veterans and issued a general call to “get more families access to affordable, quality housing.”
But in a speech largely focused on lowering costs for families, the president spent little time on an increasing and debilitating expense for millions of Americans.
Biden had attempted to secure more than $150 billion for expanding affordable housing in the previous Congress but was unable to secure enough support from moderate Democratic senators.
While Biden faces an even tougher road in a GOP-controlled House, advocates say it’s no reason to give up amid the rising costs families face for both leases and home loans.
Alicia Huey, president of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), said Biden “missed a golden opportunity … by failing to lay out his vision to combat the nation’s housing affordability crisis” in a statement, though she praised the president for referencing the “critical issue.
“Easing the affordability crisis should be a top priority for the White House and Congress,” Huey said.
Source: thehill.com
