The U.S. representatives' housing justice forum draws hundreds
Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) took his plan to reform U.S. housing policy on tour this past weekend, joined by fellow Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Hundreds of people packed the Robert G. Ford Memorial Theater at Portland’s Jefferson High School on Jan. 25 to see Blumenauer — who has represented Oregon’s 3rd District for nearly 24 years — and Tlaib, who was elected to Congress in 2018.
Blumenauer and Tlaib, along with Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash), Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.), are part of the Progressive Caucus, which on Wednesday announced their intention to introduce a package of housing reforms called the People’s Housing Platform.
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Tlaib represents Michigan’s 13th District, which she said is the third poorest in the country. She’s also one of the first Muslim women to serve in Congress and previously served in the Michigan Legislature.
“We’re literally the frontline community on what doing nothing looks like, especially when it comes to housing,” Tlaib said.
She described being struck by a Sierra Club display of white crosses representing deaths from cancer caused by pollution in the area, and said advocates need to do a better job on the face of housing — or rather, the failure of effective housing policy.
Blumenauer encouraged the audience to read “Locked Out,” his September report detailing where federal housing policy has gone wrong, and offering his vision for remedying the problem.
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“Fixing the housing crisis is not just the good thing or the right thing. I think we have an obligation to reverse course,” Blumenauer said.
Policy prescriptions outlined in the report include:
• Quadrupling public housing capital funding to $10 billion a year within four years;
• Repealing the Faircloth Amendment, which prohibits public housing authorities from constructing new public housing if it would create a net increase in public housing as of October 1999;
• Create a new “Public Housing Construction Fund” to construct 5 million homes to cover the public housing wait list, and expand eligibility for public housing;
• Provide federal funding for “housing first” programs, offering housing and wraparound services to people transitioning out of homelessness;
• Double federal homelessness assistance;
• Expand the Legal Services Corporation and increase funding for eviction protection;
• Make Section 8 vouchers an entitlement program, meaning vouchers are not based on availability but on whether the person qualifies.
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Blumenauer’s proposals for legal assistance for those facing eviction, and housing-first funding drew cheers from the crowd, along with his call to make the mortgage-interest tax deduction a credit, not a deduction — and to repeal it altogether for second homes.
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Tlaib talked about eliminating median family Income as a qualifier for public housing.
“It’s too much of a broad stroke” that doesn’t give a family’s real financial picture, she said. And she described fighting to restore the Civil Rights Act to focus on disparate impact rather than discriminatory intent.
She also touted her own BOOST Act, which would give low- and moderate-income families a tax credit of up to $6,000 in the form of monthly payments.
In an interview with Street Roots, Blumenauer said getting his proposed reforms enacted will require a comprehensive effort — and more support at the federal level.
“We’re going to have to have a change in the White House,” he said. “In some respects, this doesn’t have to be a partisan issue.”
He’s encouraged by the attention housing is getting in the Democratic primary, but he didn’t express support for any particular candidate’s housing plan, saying none is as comprehensive as what his team has produced.
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