[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Con. Res. 74 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. CON. RES. 74

 Affirming the right of all renters to a safe, affordable, and decent 
                                 home.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 27, 2017

Ms. Lee (for herself, Ms. Maxine Waters of California, Mrs. Beatty, Ms. 
   Velazquez, Mr. Al Green of Texas, and Mr. Ellison) submitted the 
following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 
 Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, 
 and the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                         CONCURRENT RESOLUTION


 
 Affirming the right of all renters to a safe, affordable, and decent 
                                 home.

Whereas housing is a basic human right;
Whereas evidence-based research has shown that families with safe, decent, and 
        affordable homes are better able to find employment, achieve economic 
        mobility, perform better in school, and maintain improved health;
Whereas investing in affordable housing strengthens our economy, creates jobs, 
        boosts families' incomes, and encourages further development;
Whereas far too many families living in urban, suburban, and rural communities 
        struggle to afford their rent each month, putting them at increased risk 
        of eviction and homelessness;
Whereas according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 
        point-in-time count of 2016, there were 549,928 people in the United 
        States experiencing homelessness on any given night, including over 
        120,000 children;
Whereas homelessness has become so pervasive that some States and cities have 
        declared that homelessness has reached a state of emergency;
Whereas major progress towards the national goals for ending homelessness in our 
        Nation has stalled in the absence of increased funding;
Whereas a shortage of affordable housing exists in every State and major 
        metropolitan area;
Whereas a full-time worker earning the Federal minimum wage cannot afford a 
        modest two-bedroom apartment in any State, metropolitan area, or county 
        in the United States;
Whereas over half of all renters are cost-burdened, paying more than 30 percent 
        of their income for housing, and 71 percent of extremely low-income 
        households are severely cost-burdened, paying more than half of their 
        income for housing;
Whereas rapidly rising rents across the country have pushed many long-time 
        residents and families out of the communities they call home;
Whereas closed waiting lists and long waits mean only a quarter of the families 
        who qualify for housing assistance actually receive it;
Whereas the role of Federal affordable housing investments is even more 
        important given the limited ability of the private market alone to 
        address these needs;
Whereas various programs at the Department of Housing and Urban Development help 
        to subsidize housing for more than 4,000,000 low-income families, 
        including the Public Housing program, the Section 8 Housing Choice 
        Vouchers (HCV) program, the Section 8 Project-Based Rental Assistance 
        program, the Section 202 Supportive Housing for the Elderly program, the 
        Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program, 
        and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA) program;
Whereas despite leveraging billions of dollars in private resources to preserve 
        and expand the supply of affordable housing, affordable housing programs 
        continue to be chronically underfunded despite their success at 
        providing safe housing to families in need;
Whereas chronic underfunding of the Public Housing Capital Fund has led to a 
        backlog of more than $26,000,000,000 in capital repairs and 
        deteriorating conditions for residents;
Whereas without Federal investments, many more families would be homeless, 
        living in substandard or overcrowded conditions, or struggling to meet 
        other basic needs because too much of their limited income would be used 
        to pay rent;
Whereas low Federal spending caps required by the Budget Control Act of 2011 
        (Public Law 112-25) have decreased funding for affordable housing and 
        community development programs;
Whereas these austere spending caps threaten affordable housing and community 
        development for millions of low income families;
Whereas even renters with housing subsidies often face barriers to finding 
        housing providers willing to rent to them;
Whereas under current Federal law, housing discrimination against a renter is 
        illegal if it is based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, 
        national origin, or disability;
Whereas renters should be protected against housing discrimination through 
        stronger enforcement of fair housing laws; and
Whereas despite various clarifying memos from HUD, the re-entry community 
        continues to face barriers in trying to secure access to federally 
        assisted housing: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), 
That the House of Representatives--
            (1) supports lifting the spending caps required by the 
        Budget Control Act of 2011 and robustly funding programs to 
        increase access to affordable housing and address homelessness 
        at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and 
        other Federal agencies;
            (2) opposes any cuts to Federal investments in affordable 
        housing programs at the Department of Housing and Urban 
        Development and other Federal agencies;
            (3) supports increased funding to the Public Housing 
        Capital Fund to address the backlog of capital repairs for 
        public housing;
            (4) supports expanded funding for the National Housing 
        Trust Fund to boost the supply of affordable housing available 
        to extremely low-income families;
            (5) supports efforts to preserve and rehabilitate existing 
        housing to maintain and increase the available stock of 
        affordable housing and proposals by local entities to prevent 
        any net loss of overall affordable housing units receiving 
        Federal subsidies;
            (6) supports strengthened Federal fair housing laws;
            (7) affirms that renters may not be barred from federally 
        assisted housing solely on the basis of a criminal record;
            (8) supports expansion of renters' rights, including the 
        right of tenants to organize tenant associations; and
            (9) affirms that housing is a basic human right.
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