[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 116 (Thursday, September 23, 2004)]
[House]
[Pages H7549-H7555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 7, 2003, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I would like to talk tonight about the Lee-
Capuano-Sanders discharge petition which is H.J. Res. 748. This 
resolution requests immediate consideration of H.R. 1102, which is the 
National Affordable Housing Construction Program, a trust fund, which 
targets funding and resources to States and localities to assist people 
in the most desperate need for affordable housing.
  Mr. Speaker, today, many of us recognize that we do live in two 
Americas, one for the wealthy and one for those who are struggling to 
just make ends meet. We have families living in dilapidated rental 
units, clutching to potentially meaningless section 8 vouchers, facing 
the harsh realities of high-cost housing or homelessness; but we have 
an opportunity here to make a real difference in the lives of people 
who need just a bit of our help, people, families, children, men and 
women.
  We have an opportunity to help support families in their desire to 
build intergenerational wealth for the future. At a time of State 
budget crunches and shortfalls, we have an opportunity here to support 
our States who want to build safer, more affordable quality communities 
for our most vulnerable constituents.
  Discharging H.R. 1102 under an open rule to the House floor would at 
least allow us to debate the need for more affordable housing and show 
where our national priorities really are. I know that our constituents 
want us to authorize a national affordable housing trust fund because 
it would construct 1.5 million affordable housing units over the next 
decades.
  The Center For Community Change estimates that a national affordable 
housing trust fund would create 1.8 million, that is 1.8 million, new 
jobs. That is nearly $50 billion in wages, good-paying jobs; and with 
our economy the way it is right now, with people on the brink, with so 
many layoffs, you cannot tell me that 1.8 million new jobs will not 
make a difference in the lives of millions of people.
  Mr. Speaker, just think of it, if this Congress invested a mere 5, 
$5.1 billion, that is $5 billion, that is peanuts really, $5 billion 
into affordable housing, of course instead of this never-ending war in 
Iraq, if we did this, I mean, the war in Iraq now is upwards of $200 
billion. If we just invested $5 billion into this trust fund, we could 
commit at least $37 to $40 million to each State for housing, $200 
billion again, Mr. Speaker, for Iraq. We should not even worry about $5 
billion. We should be supporting this bill. We should move it forward 
in this House. $5 billion, again as compared to $200 billion, that is 
very minimal in terms of resources.
  So this does not make any sense to me, why this bill has not come to 
the floor for a debate, why we do not have a national housing trust 
fund. Signing this discharge petition will help this tripartisan bill. 
We have over 215 Members with the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), 
myself, the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Waters), the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Frank), the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Capuano), and many, many cosponsors on both sides of the aisle, and the 
gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), tripartisan.
  If, in fact, we discharge this petition, we would really overcome 
whatever political obstacles there are that have prevented this 
realistic, sensible and targeted, affordable housing legislation from 
coming before this Chamber.
  It is my understanding that former Secretary Mel Martinez just said 
he did not want it to come to this body, and that is what has happened. 
214 cosponsors, I do not think it makes sense for us to allow a former 
Secretary of HUD to dictate the legislation that comes to the body of 
this House. This program can and will make a considerable difference in 
the lives of our constituents.
  Let me just tell my colleagues, over 5,000 organizations, unions, 
working men and women, nonprofits, faith-based organizations, 
individuals have endorsed this bill and are organizing grass-roots 
support to really call their Members and ask them for their support and 
why they are not supporting it, if they are not.
  We recognize the cost and the hesitation that many Members had in 
regard to using the FHA surplus, which was the way the bill was 
initially written. So that is why, in order to garner additional 
bipartisan support, we have revised the funding mechanism and asked 
that the capable appropriators find the necessary $5 billion wherever 
they deem appropriate. We have negotiated in good faith on this bill, 
and it makes no sense for us now to be here pushing this discharge 
petition as we are because of the fact that it has gone through 
committee and that it should be debated on this floor.

                              {time}  2045

  It should be authorized because it will provide housing to all, which 
many of us feel, I know some may not believe this, but I believe that 
housing should be a basic human right, and because of that, it 
outweighs all of its cost.
  So I encourage all Members to sign their names to the Lee-Sanders-
Capuano discharge petition, because together, we can build affordable 
futures for families and thousands of children across this country. If 
we work together for passage of this bill, we can prevent thousands of 
our elderly and low-income families from choosing between food and 
shelter. And in many instances, that is what is going on. If we work 
together for passage of this bill, we can build safe havens through 
affordable supportive housing instead of homeless shelters for women 
fleeing domestic violence. If we work together for passage of this 
bill, we can build more opportunities for home ownership and mixed-
income communities in rural and urban America.
  Investing in H.J. Res. 748 means investing in a national affordable 
housing trust fund and providing a greater

[[Page H7550]]

chance to realize the American Dream for all Americans. Together, we 
can bridge those two Americas into one prosperous land for all.
  So I ask my colleagues, I plead with my colleagues, because we only 
have about a week left here, to come to the House floor and sign this 
petition. I am asking all of them to make a decision that reflects the 
need for more affordable housing opportunities, for more jobs, and for 
more State and local choices for housing and community development.
  Mr. Speaker, I now wish to yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. 
Jackson-Lee), who is a consistent fighter for children and families and 
who also believes basic housing should be a human right for all.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the distinguished 
gentlewoman for yielding to me and for her work and the work of her 
colleagues on this important initiative. I am delighted to be an early 
cosponsor of this legislation because it follows the needs of my 
constituents in the Eighteenth Congressional District in Houston. We 
have confronted in that district a number of housing dilemmas and 
housing concerns.
  The first one that comes to mind, of course, is the year-long work 
that we had to participate in in order to overcome some obstacles in 
restoring what we call the senior home repair program. There is not 
much, probably, that sometimes Members have not seen because of their 
travel to war zones and dealing with some of the conditions of their 
constituents. We see tragedies of great moment because we are expected 
as elected officials to be able to respond to those needs. But going 
into inner-city areas and even to rural areas and sometimes seeing the 
conditions that senior citizens live in, people who have worked their 
whole lives but maybe as they have worked their income has not met 
their ability to survive, with their health needs, their food needs and 
their housing needs.
  I spoke earlier today of constituents who live in burned-out homes; 
half the home literally burned down because there were no public 
resources to either repair the home or replace the home. The same with 
homes that were in such bad condition that bucketloads of water would 
come in when it rained. The wiring was in poor condition. There was no 
ability to have air-conditioning. These are homes that people live in.
  And, Mr. Speaker, what about the thousands of persons that are living 
with family members or others? They call those individuals transients, 
those who are living from place to place. These are individuals with 
families. In fact, in our school district, we had a name for those 
children that wound up either in different schools in the same school 
year because their family had to move from place to place, or maybe 
were living in a car and the car then fell upon disrepair and so they 
had no place to go.
  It is interesting that even in the richest country in the world that 
we have this dilemma in housing. So the national housing trust fund 
legislation is really long overdue, with 214 cosponsors. This is a bill 
that we wanted to do in regular order, the Committee on Financial 
Services, the members of that committee, the leaders of that committee, 
the names we have called out. I believe the gentlewoman mentioned the 
gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), the gentlewoman from California 
(Ms. Lee), leading this special order this evening, the gentlewoman 
from California (Ms. Waters), and I saw the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Frank) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Capuano). Those of us who joined eagerly to be cosponsors really 
realize this is an opportunity that has been lost.
  Even today, those that I know to be long-standing supporters across 
party lines, such as Jack Kemp, who was with me in Houston a few months 
ago, where we went to a complex of Habitat for Humanity and we were 
able to build in Houston hundreds of homes. Homeowners contributed to 
it. And we are very grateful for Habitat for Humanity and projects like 
that, but that is not the total answer. We participated in that 
project. It was related to the Super Bowl. And we are glad that we did 
some constructive things that the NFL does, and we continue to work 
with Habitat for Humanity and a number of other self-help programs, but 
we cannot self-help ourselves across America in the enormous 
deterioration of public housing in America.
  There is an eagerness of those living in public housing to own their 
own homes. And the HOME program, where we were giving equity and giving 
down payments, is really on the ropes. The home repair program for 
senior citizens is on the ropes. Why is it on the ropes? Because we are 
not able to fund it the way we need to fund it. So today Jack Kemp, and 
I might add Henry Cisneros, stood up to support the concept of a 
national housing trust fund.
  I believe that this really plays into the whole desire of every 
American to have a better quality of life. We always go back to the 
opening words of the Declaration of Independence because it was the 
framework by which the Founding Fathers drafted our Constitution. It is 
words we use very often. I do not know how they managed to capture such 
brilliant language that fits all centuries, all years; that we all are 
created equal. I always do a caveat that as they wrote it, they 
obviously left out a large portion of those in America, claiming that 
slaves were less than one person.

  But the words were beautiful, they were meaningful, and they can be 
carried and applicable to all. We are all created equal with certain 
inalienable rights of life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
  Mr. Speaker, in this Nation, the pursuit of happiness, I believe, 
encompasses education, health care, and housing. A national housing 
trust fund would construct, rehabilitate and preserve rental housing 
for people with the very lowest incomes, as well as provide rental 
housing and homeownership opportunities for those with incomes of up to 
80 percent of area median income. This is important.
  But besides the homeless, Mr. Speaker, there are some 25,000 people 
on the waiting list in Houston for Section 8 housing. It is atrocious, 
that list. They just stay on and on and on and on. The list does not 
move. Throughout everyone's districts many people ask how they get on 
the list, or why are they on the list so long; or how can they get 
housing. The trust fund would use a dedicated source of revenue to 
produce and rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million homes over the next 
10 years.
  Mr. Speaker, these would not be Republican homes, independent homes, 
Democratic homes, or only urban homes, big city homes, or only central 
city homes. These would be homes across the Nation. And when you travel 
to districts that are rural, you can be assured that people need places 
to live.
  The trust fund will provide much-needed stimulus to our economy, 
creating jobs and adding to the revenues of States and localities. An 
investment of $5 billion in a national housing trust fund will result 
in 1.8 million new jobs and $50 billion in wages.
  One of the things I think we never think about when we think about 
housing, like when we got Federal funds to help rehabilitate my public 
housing, housing developments as the residents there like to call it, I 
added an amendment that year for Houston and other public housing 
projects to use the residents of public housing to work on the 
rehabilitation project; to use them to be carpenters and plumbers and 
electricians, those who lived inside those housing developments. 
Because they would be getting skills and getting income.
  This is a clear win-win situation. New jobs and $50 billion in wages. 
Who knows, those people working on this housing could then elevate 
themselves to the middle class and then buy their housing. This is a 
positive, positive, positive stroke of genius.
  The lack of adequate housing hurts children now and in the future. 
Poor housing circumstances have been linked to poor educational 
performance and poor health. Children with unstable housing situations 
have unstable schooling. A review of the research on high-classroom 
turnover shows the highly detrimental effects of changing schools on 
educational outcomes. Other research shows that children living in 
substandard housing have increased chances of lead poisoning and 
asthma, while high-housing costs leads to child malnutrition as 
families choose between food and rent.

[[Page H7551]]

  When I worked with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in my district, but 
particularly Fannie Mae, where we have an office, to see the looks on 
the faces of those who were getting homes, and when we had the ribbon-
cutting ceremonies and the children went into their own bedrooms, what 
a difference their own bedroom made. That is why the national housing 
trust fund is so very important. It helps people with the lowest income 
face the greatest difficulty, which is finding housing that is 
available and affordable. For people across the income spectrum who are 
experiencing housing affordability deficits, this is what this is all 
about.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot imagine that we would want to keep 4.8 million 
low- to moderate-income working families earning between the full-time 
minimum wage and 120 percent of area median income without housing. 
There is a critical housing shortage for them.
  The lack of affordable housing hurts elderly people and people with 
disabilities. The national vacancy rate does not capture the market 
failure in affordable housing. Because we do not have the affordable 
housing units, we lose out on the people who are able to buy those 
houses.
  It is ridiculous, Mr. Speaker. A $150,000 or $200,000 home may seem 
affordable to those who are working for dollars way above that of 
individuals needing to get the kind of housing that is affordable. In 
light of the Nation's housing crisis, the national housing trust fund 
is a moral imperative and national resources should be used to combat 
this.
  Let me just say that I spoke earlier today on the floor asking for a 
plan in order to help us move swiftly in rebuilding Iraq and returning 
our soldiers home with valor and ceasing the violence. We are spending 
$5 billion a month in Iraq, a billion dollars a month and more in 
Afghanistan, and already we have spent $200 billion. I want the 
gentlewoman to know that I cannot imagine that this Congress, with all 
of the cosponsors that she has, would not give us the opportunity 
before we shut down to go home and be able to pass this legislation, 
and, frankly, to save lives in America. There are homeless people, with 
ruined lives, and we need to be able to protect them and provide them 
opportunities.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for giving me this opportunity 
not only to speak about the needs across the Nation, but to speak about 
the needs in Houston. We have lived this and we have seen it. I have 
gone out to homes. While I speak there are people living in conditions 
that are shameful. We need more money in Houston, but I know we need 
more money across the Nation for housing.
  So I hope we will see the passage of this bill. Let us do everything 
we can. I cannot thank the gentlewoman enough for the leadership that 
she has provided, and she has my commitment that we will work together 
on this very important issue.
  The House version of the National Housing Trust Fund legislation now 
has an impressive 214 cosponsors. But the leadership of the Financial 
Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over the bill, has not taken 
up the bill.
  So in late July, my colleagues Representatives Barbara Lee, Michael 
Capuano and Bernie Sanders filed a discharge petition in an effort to 
move the National Housing Trust Fund forward. The petition would 
``discharge'' the committee of its responsibility in considering the 
bill. If a majority of the Members, 218, sign the petition, the bill 
could come directly to the House floor for debate and a vote.
  A National Housing Trust Fund would construct, rehabilitate, and 
preserve rental housing for people with the very lowest incomes, as 
well as provide rental housing and homeownership opportunities for some 
people with incomes up to 80 percent of the area median income. The 
Trust Fund would use a dedicated source of revenue to produce, 
rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million homes over the next 10 years.
  The Trust Fund will provide much needed stimulus to our economy, 
creating jobs and adding to the revenues of states and localities. An 
investment of $5 billion in a National Housing Trust Fund will result 
in 1.8 million new jobs and $50 billion in wages.
  The lack of adequate housing hurts children now and into the future. 
Poor housing circumstances have been linked to poor educational 
performance and poor health.
  Children with unstable housing situation have unstable schooling. A 
review of the research on high classroom turnover shows the highly 
detrimental effects of changing schools on educational outcomes. Other 
research shows that children living in substandard housing have 
increased chances of lead poisoning and asthma, while high housing 
costs lead to child malnutrition, as families choose between food and 
rent.
  While people with the lowest incomes face the greatest difficulty in 
finding housing that is available and affordable, people across the 
income spectrum are experiencing housing affordability problems. There 
is nearly a two million unit gap in the housing available and 
affordable for the lowest income people and the number of people 
needing housing.
  There is no jurisdiction, urban, suburban or rural, where wages from 
a full-time minimum wage job can pay the rent on a modest two-bedroom 
home and in many places, the equivalent of at least two or three full-
time minimum wage salaries are needed. In addition, a recent study 
found that 4.8 million low- to moderate-income working families--
families earning between the full-time minimum wage and 120 percent of 
the area median income--had critical housing needs in 2001, spending 
more than half of their income on rent or living in substandard 
housing.
  The lack of affordable housing hurts elderly people and people with 
disabilities. On average, people with disabilities who receive SSI 
would need to use their entire SSI check each month to pay the rent on 
a modest one-bedroom apartment. Six times as many seniors needed 
housing assistance than were receiving assistance and 324,000 existing 
subsidized and affordable housing units are at risk of being lost to 
the private market.
  The national vacancy rate does not capture the market failure in 
affordable housing. The 2001 national vacancy rate of 8.4 percent does 
not mean that those vacant units are uniformly available around the 
country, nor that those vacant units are affordable to people with low 
incomes. Recent housing development has been focused on luxury rentals, 
out of reach of people earning low wages. In contrast, over the 1990s, 
14 percent of the rental housing affordable to the poorest people has 
disappeared from the housing stock. Indeed, in many places, affordable 
housing has been demolished to make room for luxury housing.
  In light of the nation's housing crisis, the National Housing Trust 
Fund is a moral imperative and national resources should be used to 
combat this. To date, nearly 4,000 organizations, religious leaders, 
businesses, newspaper editorials and others have said that our country 
needs a National Housing Trust Fund by becoming Trust Fund endorsers. 
New endorsers of the Trust Fund are added every day. In the 107th 
Congress, the endorsers were joined by 200 members of the House of 
Representatives and 29 members of the Senate who cosponsored Trust Fund 
legislation. Given the extent of housing needs, the federal government 
should make it a priority to provide sufficient resources for the 
construction, preservation and rehabilitation of housing for the 
poorest people.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me thank the gentlewoman from Texas for 
that very powerful, eloquent, and comprehensive statement, and also for 
reminding us of the types of cuts and what is on the chopping block 
this year as we try to push forward a bill to create 1.5 million 
affordable housing units.
  The gentlewoman reminds us of what we are faced with and what we are 
fighting just to protect. Let me give some numbers here, Mr. Speaker.
  First of all, by HUD's own admission, this year's budget cuts $1.63 
billion out of Section 8. That is outrageous. Public housing funding is 
being cut by $180 million. The gentlewoman talked about public housing 
in her district. What are people going to do? What are people going to 
do? We zeroed out $149 million for last year's HOPE VI. Outrageous. 
Outrageous.
  For Community Development Block Grants, the funding is what we call 
flat, which means really that it has fallen by about 9 percent. The 
budget actually eliminates brownfields, it eliminates rural housing and 
economic development, it eliminates empowerment zones and Community 
Development Block Grants. It rescinds about $675 million of contract 
amendments for our section 236 projects, which provide prepayments for 
assisted housing projects.

                              {time}  2100

  The request of $139 million represents a cut of $35 million for lead 
paint grants. I could go on and on. Serving as a member of the 
Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity, we have fought these 
battles this year and will continue to fight against these cuts.
  As we attempt to get a debate on the National Housing Trust Fund, 
what we

[[Page H7552]]

see are efforts to cut what is left. We need to not only restore these 
cuts that are in the existing budget, but we need to fight for more 
funding for section 8, more funding for community block grants and more 
funding to get rid of lead in our children's homes. We need more money, 
not cuts. This affordable housing trust fund at least puts us stepping 
in the right direction.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee) 
to comment on these cuts as they relate to her district. I know the 
gentlewoman's district is similar to my district in terms of the 
struggles that people mount every day. This is an important issue that 
needs to be made a national priority.
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for 
yielding to me.
  First of all, these are shocking numbers to know that our 
appropriations that are moving to the floor are going to literally put 
a dagger in the needs of Americans all over.
  One thing I would say is housing is not political. It is not 
partisan. It should not be. I want to just read a column from David 
Broder, Washington Post, ``Help At Home.'' He mentions Henry Cisneros 
and Jack Kemp. He mentions that they were right in contending that 
housing is every bit as important a measure of American values as any 
of those other concerns. The quote is, ``We are a Nation that 
understands and asserts the promise of individual opportunity, and we 
recognize that decent housing is a precursor to its realization.'' Then 
they say their agenda includes programs to end chronic homelessness.
  When we take away section 8 and the equity program and the public 
housing program, we increase homelessness. It is chronic homelessness 
for people who cannot just pull themselves up. They want to revive and 
expand public housing, increase the use of housing vouchers, encourage 
employee-assisted housing, eliminate regulatory barriers to affordable 
housing and crack down on predatory lending and overt discrimination.
  Obviously, that is an expanded concept, but then they endorse the 
establishment of a national housing trust fund. This is an idea which 
is gathering increasing support in Congress to provide the capital 
needed to produce affordable housing.
  One other comment, I say housing is not partisan; Secretary Jackson 
was in Texas, but even his review of the situation when he was in the 
home of a senior citizen, Mrs. Waddle, Secretary Alphonso Jackson 
examined the crumbling wallboard, cracked ceiling and sagging 
foundation in Earnestine Waddle's northwest Houston home. She is 73 
years old. She brought the whole group of us to an emotional 
standstill. We are waiting to have her home repaired. She is an example 
of what the gentlewoman is talking about.
  I would simply say the national housing trust is long overdue. Here 
we have bipartisan affirmation that we need to do more for housing, and 
here we have Earnestine Waddles's home as a symbol of homes across the 
Nation. We want to be in the business of helping people across the 
Nation.
  Mr. Speaker, I include for the Record the article about Secretary 
Jackson's visit to Earnestine Waddle's home.

              [From the Houston Chronicle, June 30, 2004]

                     Wait for House Repairs Ending

                            (By Mike Snyder)

       A member of President Bush's Cabinet draped his arm around 
     a 73-year-old Houston widow Wednesday and promised that her 
     long wait for badly needed home repairs would soon end.
       Alphonso Jackson, the U.S. secretary of Housing and Urban 
     Development, examined the crumbling wallboard, cracked 
     ceiling and sagging foundation in Earnestine Waddle's 
     northwest Houston home. Waddle will be the first homeowner to 
     get help under a revamped city program to repair the homes of 
     low-income elderly and disabled people, Jackson said.
       ``I'm somewhat emotional, because I think this is wrong, 
     that Mrs. Waddle has to live like this,'' Jackson said.
       HUD suspended Houston's home-repair program in November 
     after finding evidence that some contractors had been 
     overpaid or performed shoddy work. The city resumed the 
     service on a limited basis in April, but the guidelines were 
     so restrictive that fewer than a dozen households qualified 
     for assistance.
       Jackson said Wednesday that work should begin this month on 
     an expanded program that will include major rehabilitation 
     and reconstruction of houses as well as the short-term 
     emergency repairs being made now. His announcement prompted 
     applause and a chorus of ``amen'' from a crowd gathered to 
     hear him at the Acres Homes Multi-Service Center.
       Mayor Bill White, who joined Jackson and U.S. Rep. Sheila 
     Jackson Lee for the announcement, said new guidelines worked 
     out by the city and HUD will ensure problems that led the 
     federal agency to shut down the program would not recur.
       ``We are going to do what it takes to get qualified people 
     to do these home repairs,'' White said. ``We will be 
     accountable for what we do.''
       If the City Council approves, the city will budget $2 
     million for the program, and HUD will reimburse the city 
     after approving the completed work.
       In the past, the city has delegated the selection of 
     contractors and oversight of their work to nonprofit agencies 
     such as the Houston Area Urban League. Under the revised 
     guidelines, city employees will perform these functions, said 
     Kevin Davis, spokesman for the city's Housing and Community 
     Development Department.
       A limit of $5,000 per house is being eliminated, Davis 
     said, because officials determined this was not enough to 
     address the needs of many eligible households. Officials 
     haven't decided whether to apply a new cap, he said.
       The home reconstruction component is new to the program and 
     reflects a recognition that many houses are in such poor 
     condition that repairs are not feasible.
       Jackson said he came to Houston at the urging of Jackson 
     Lee, a Democrat whose 18th Congressional District includes 
     many poor Houston neighborhoods where repairs are badly 
     needed. Jackson Lee has spent months working with local and 
     federal officials to get the program started again.
       ``In her tenacious style, she brought (the problem) to my 
     attention and kept insisting that I come and look at what was 
     happening,'' Jackson said. ``She emphasized why the program 
     was so important.''
       Waddle, who said she has lived in the house in Acres Homes 
     for almost 40 years, said she was grateful for Jackson's 
     help.

  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I am glad the gentlewoman brought to our 
attention the visit of the Secretary of HUD. I was quite disappointed 
when he came to our subcommittee when we were talking about housing. He 
indicated that poverty was a state of mind and had nothing much to do 
with the economics or discrimination or the environment or the state of 
condition in terms of one's circumstances. Perhaps he was sensitized by 
this visit. Let us hope so.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine 
Brown), a great leader, who is fighting on many fronts.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me 
commend the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee) and the gentlewoman 
from Texas (Ms. Jackson-Lee). I have visited both of your districts, 
and I know we have similar problems as far as HUD is concerned and 
housing and homeownership.
  I personally had one of the largest town hall meeting workshops on 
homeownership where we brought in all of our partners, and we are 
working together to try to improve housing for all Americans.
  The Congressional Black Caucus's goal is to have a million new 
homeowners. I am proud to be a part of that.
  But I have to say that this administration, the Bush administration, 
has almost wiped out the housing program. In the memo that was 
uncovered that, if George W. Bush is reelected, they are going to cut 
every single domestic program, and there are not a lot of advocates, 
unfortunately, for housing in this Congress.
  On the vote tonight is another demonstration of ``we do not really 
care about the people who need the hands up.'' This administration 
practices what I call reverse Robin Hood. When I was coming up, my 
favorite program was Robin Hood. These people practice robbing from the 
poor and working people to give tax breaks to the rich. Of course, it 
happened again today.
  I certainly agree that we need middle class tax cuts, but we also 
need breaks for the working poor, people who work every day but cannot 
make it because they do not have health insurance, they do not have 
decent housing for their children.
  I was listening to the report on 9/11 where they were talking about 
what was not available for the young people in Iraq, decent housing, 
training, education. I said to myself, we need a little of that in my 
district, and I am sure in the gentlewoman's.
  The homeless have been mentioned. I have been on the Committee on 
Veterans Affairs for over 12 years. One-third of the homeless people 
are veterans, one-third. It is criminal that we

[[Page H7553]]

do not provide the support system that they need. They are out there 
because they do not have the proper medication, the proper assistance. 
When one walks around and sees the homeless, most people try to have a 
blind eye. One-third of them have lost a lot defending us.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, with regard to the homeless, I failed to 
mention the budget numbers with regard to programs for the homeless, a 
$50 million cut.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to mention $50 
million, but the Hope Six program is slated to be completely 
eliminated. That is the only program that goes into the community and 
not only replaces housing but has other kinds of programs that will 
assist the people that live in public housing to help them with job 
training, education, after-school programs; and of course, the Drug 
Elimination Program is completely wiped out.
  I have to say Under Secretary Mel Martinez and George W. Bush, they 
have destroyed the housing program. It is just not a priority for the 
administration.
  Hope Six in Florida received three grants, but it may be the last 
round of assistance that people in public housing will receive if this 
administration is reelected.
  The Drug Elimination Program, Members can see that this program and 
programs which assist, help with after-school programs and tutoring 
programs; it was the program that actually brought in the cops into the 
community, working with the young people so they would not get involved 
in the world of crime; completely eliminated under this administration. 
The list goes on.
  Certainly housing has not been a priority. But what was interesting 
to me was I have received visits from the realtors and the home 
builders because they are concerned about the new homeownership 
programs that have worked so well with the public-private partnerships. 
Those programs have been on the chopping block in Florida and 
throughout the country.
  I know the gentlewoman has received some of the same complaints. Why 
would programs be cut which actually help people become homeowners?
  Mr. Speaker, let me say to the gentlewoman, I am very excited about 
her program, and I am very pleased to be a cosponsor, but can the 
gentlewoman explain where we are going to get the funds from?
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for laying it out there 
and telling it like it is.
  Initially, when we introduced this legislation a couple of years ago, 
the funding would come from the FHA reserves. There is enough money in 
the FHA reserve account to fund this $5 billion and keep our reserve 
account solvent.
  However, in the spirit of bipartisanship, tripartisanship with the 
gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), we agreed that we would amend out 
the specific designation of the FHA reserve fund as the $5 billion 
contributor to the trust fund and indicated we would provide the 
opportunity for our very capable appropriators to determine where this 
$5 billion could come from.
  Mr. Speaker, there are many accounts which this $5 billion could come 
from where it would not even be missed. Here, we could create 1.6 
million new jobs, $50 billion in wages. Our economy could get going 
again. We would have good-paying jobs in the construction industry, and 
we would provide affordable housing for millions of people.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, what a wonderful program.
  Just one other point I want to make. Recently, the present Secretary 
of HUD was on Mr. O'Reilly's program, and I want to get a copy of the 
transcript and submit it for the record because it was horrifying that 
someone, an African-American, could talk about the fact that you are in 
an awful condition because this is what you want to be in. He would not 
have been in the position of Secretary if it were not for affirmative 
action, a program that this administration; President George W. Bush, 
on Martin Luther King's birthday announced we should not have any 
affirmative action.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I mentioned earlier when the gentlewoman from 
Texas indicated that the Secretary had visited her district and visited 
an individual who was living in a dilapidated house, and I said I hoped 
he had become a little more sensitive to what we were talking about 
because in the subcommittee hearing, he talked about poverty in terms 
of it being a state of mind, not a state of condition, not a function 
of circumstances or unemployment or living in substandard housing in 
communities which had very little resources. I am not sure if he became 
more sensitized about the issues of poverty. I am shocked that he 
continued with that argument on television.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, all we need to do is look 
at the substandard conditions in many of our public housing complexes.

                              {time}  2115

  That is not a state of mind. That is a state of circumstances, and no 
one wants to be in those circumstances. But if we look at the dismal 
record of this administration as far as job creation, African Americans 
are at almost 10 percent unemployment. So if we look at where we are as 
far as employment opportunities, training, it is interesting to talk 
about what they are going to do in the future, but I would like the 
people to look at their present record. Judge people on the work I have 
done. I love that spiritual: ``Let the work I have done speak for me.'' 
We look at the record of this administration when it comes to housing, 
and it is dismal. When it comes to training, dismal. When it comes to 
education, dismal. And all of this goes together to change that state 
of mind, to give people that opportunity to get a heads up, and that is 
what we are supposed to be about.
  It is a real honor to serve in the House of Representatives. It is 
really an honor because we have an opportunity to help people that need 
a little helping hand. It is not a state of mind. We visit people who 
try all they can, and they have run out of their employment, and the 
training program is not there. And they have trained people to go into 
other jobs, and then they have sent those jobs overseas, and they have 
no job.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, let me just say I am glad 
the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Corrine Brown) highlighted what the 
real issues are right now in this country. Talking about jobs and 
unemployment, for example, in my district the average cost of a house, 
a two-bedroom house, it is about $450,000, and the unemployment rate in 
the African American community and the Latino community is double 
digit. Also, the average income is 45, 35, $50,000. How in the world 
can a family of four afford a two-bedroom $450,000 house on an income 
of 45 to $50,000, if that? The American Dream is a nightmare. It is a 
nightmare for many Americans.
  This affordable housing trust fund would help bring us back home. It 
would help allow for the American Dream to be realized even by those 
who have not had those opportunities that some of us have had, and that 
is what this is about.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, will the gentlewoman 
yield?
  Ms. LEE. I yield to the gentlewoman from Florida.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. That is, Mr. Speaker, I think the most 
important thing, to have a trust fund. So once we have a trust fund, 
then we have a dedicated source of revenue, and that is certainly what 
housing needs because it is not a priority. A lot of people that are in 
housing, they do not vote. They do not have any rich lobbyists up here. 
So, therefore, they are not included. They are not on the agenda. No 
one cares about them. So that is part of the problem.
  So I really want to commend the gentlewoman for coming up with a 
mechanism that we can have a dedicated source of revenue. And then, of 
course, we will have to continue to fight because, just like in 
transportation, the reason why we cannot pass a transportation bill, 
and the money is also there in the trust fund, is this administration 
for some reason does not want to invest in the infrastructure in this 
country. In Iraq, yes. But not in this country. Because for 
transportation every billion dollars creates 44,000 jobs, and that is 
what the people need.

[[Page H7554]]

  Once they have a job, then they can have housing. But until that 
time, they have to have affordable housing because people just cannot 
afford it. And the gentlewoman said $44,000 or $45,000 or $50,000. What 
happens when people have nothing, they have no source of income? They 
have lost their job, they paid into the fund, but yet this 
administration will not even entertain extending it so that people can 
get some assistance.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, let me say I am glad the 
gentlewoman called to the public's attention the special interest 
political nature of housing. And she is right. The homeless do not have 
lots of money to put a lobbyist here in Washington, D.C. to pound the 
pavement all the time. But we are really very fortunate that 5,000 
organizations have come on board for the National Housing Trust Fund 
Campaign led by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition. So I am just 
very proud of them that they have stepped up to the plate and have 
filled that void, and that is why it is unbelievable that after we 
passed the bill out of committee, we cannot even get it to the floor to 
debate.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will 
continue to yield, it is not not believable because it is not a 
priority of this administration. I have served for 23 years, 10 years 
in the Florida House, and I have been here for over 12 years. I have 
never seen an administration that dictates what comes before the House 
of Representatives, the people's House. I mean, if they do not want the 
bill to pass, it does not pass. Just like with the gun bill, they do 
not want the bill to come up, regardless of what they have said, 
because it did not come up. So people do not understand what has 
happened in this country and in the people's House.
  I love being here because it was 129 years before the first African 
American got elected to Congress; so I feel that it is very important 
that we speak up for the people who do not have lobbyists here in 
Washington, who do not have people that are going to fight to make sure 
that we have decent, safe, and affordable housing. And we have a 
Secretary who does not understand that, a Secretary of Housing, who 
just happens to be an African American.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, I think this is a good 
example of how the democratic process over and over and over has been 
thwarted in this House. Here we have 5,000 organizations, we have 
sponsored a bill that is tripartisan, the bill passed out of the 
committee, so regular order has prevailed. And where is the bill? We 
cannot even have a debate, and that is all this discharge petition 
requires is a debate. We have 214 cosponsors. That is a lot of people. 
That represents millions of Americans, those 214. How in the world 
their voices are allowed to be stifled in a debate as important as this 
one is beyond me. I thought democracy was real in America, but this is 
another example, and in this instance it is my understanding the former 
Secretary of HUD just called to say, We do not want it to come to the 
floor. I do not know what his reasons are. He is now running for the 
senate out in the gentlewoman's State, Mel Martinez, but he did not 
want it to come; so it is not here.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will 
continue to yield, I know him very well. He is a nice person. But I can 
tell the gentlewoman he was the worst Secretary we ever had. Because 
for this administration, it is just not a priority, and they do not 
want to spend the dollars. It is mind boggling how if a person is not 
one of the rich, companies, I mean, the gentlewoman talks about people 
that really need a helping hand. That is not a priority of this 
administration. It is not a priority of the former Secretary. It is 
just not when they cut the programs that they cut. It does not matter 
what one says. I say that all the time. Actions speak louder than 
words. I can say ``I love you'' all I want to. I can say ``I 
support you'' all I want to. But if I cut the programs that make people 
whole, then I do not care anything about them.

  They can show them better than they can tell them. And this 
administration consistently has cut not only housing but veterans 
housing programs, consistently cut them. And, therefore, if we do not 
have affordable housing, then people end up homeless in the streets. 
And that is a sad state of affairs when we have veterans in the streets 
that today they are our soldiers, they are our heroes; tomorrow there 
is no safety net for them.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, during the Congressional 
Black Caucus weekend, we provide breakfast for the homeless. And I have 
the privilege, it is a real honor, to be able to just be there with the 
homeless and serve breakfast 1 day in Washington, D.C. Each and every 
year in the last 3 years, that line has grown and grown and grown. And 
I am appalled at the number of homeless veterans who come out for a 
meal on that morning.
  So when I come back here to Congress on the subcommittee and fight 
for the $50 million, to restore those cuts, fight for additional 
funding for the homeless and for Hope VI, I cannot help but wonder who 
is out of touch with reality in this administration and in this 
Congress and why in the world that would just cost $5 billion would not 
be allowed to get to the floor to be discussed. Is there a problem 
there?
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, the problem, in my 
opinion, is that if this administration does not support it, then it 
cannot come to the floor. We cannot have a debate over it. In fact, if 
we look at the Medicare bill, which is just so important to so many 
people, they would not even allow a Democrat in the House of 
Representatives to be on conference. They have the votes, but they do 
not even want to discuss ideas that are not their ideas. Even though 
they can just vote it down, they do not even want a discussion. And 
that is the same thing with the gentlewoman's bill. They do not even 
want the bill on the floor for discussion.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, reclaiming my time, it does not, again, make 
any sense from a financial institution standpoint to not allow this 
bill to come forward for discussion because financial institutions will 
benefit from this economic stimulus initiative. Some of the 
organizations that have supported the trust fund, let me just share 
this with the gentlewoman: the National Cooperative Bank Community 
Development Corporation, the Congress for Community and Economic 
Development, National Neighborhood Coalition, the National Credit Union 
Foundation, the National Community Building Network. I could go on and 
on about the financial institutions that have supported this.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. If the gentlewoman will continue to 
yield, Mr. Speaker, how will they partner? For example, I heard the 
gentlewoman say the credit union, and I have spent time discussing with 
them and talking with them about their being more involved with housing 
and helping in homeownership.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, the financing that the financial institutions, 
which private lenders would do, would be matched by the trust fund two 
to one.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. So that would expand the dollars, and 
so they would be able to serve more people?
  Ms. LEE. That is right, Mr. Speaker. And we are talking, again, about 
a public/private partnership. We are not talking about a handout. We 
are not talking about a subsidy that is going to rip off the Federal 
Treasury.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. So that $5 billion could be leveraged?
  Ms. LEE. It could be leveraged up to 20, $30 billion. And that is the 
problem. I would just say it is a drop in the bucket in terms of what 
is possible under this type of arrangement with regard to a trust fund. 
Several States have trust funds that have funds that have been 
established. This would put 35 to 40 million in each State into a trust 
fund. That would actually help trust funds that have been established 
or start new trust funds, and the Federal Government would be a major 
player in that and should be proud of what it would do for its people.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I want to once again 
commend the gentlewoman on working on this initiative, on her AIDS 
initiative. She has certainly been a bright star in Congress since she 
has been here and her leadership in the area of housing and the work 
that she has done as far as HIV and getting funding.
  This administration went to Africa and committed $15 billion. I do 
not

[[Page H7555]]

think we have $1 billion yet. Photo-ops are one thing. But that is, 
once again, how we talk the talk, but we do not walk the walk. And the 
world community had expected some assistance and some leadership from 
the United States in this area, and none has come so far.
  I just need to know what kind of dollars have been put up for the 
AIDS that the gentlewoman worked so hard on.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for bringing that to 
our attention.

                              {time}  2130

  Ms. LEE. That was a $15 billion, 5-year initiative. It should have 
been $3 billion for each year. We still have not gotten to the $3 
billion for the first year yet. We are fighting very hard to increase 
the appropriations. The trust fund was supposed to be up to $1 billion 
a year. So far the administration has put up maybe $200 million a year. 
We bumped it up a little bit on this side and are hoping the Senate 
will bump it up, but we still have not gotten to $1 billion a year for 
the trust fund.
  I share that because the trust fund again has the ability to leverage 
$8 billion to $9 billion worldwide for people living with HIV and AIDS, 
for prevention, for care and treatment, for orphans, for young men and 
women, for families, and we still cannot get the type of funding that 
is required for the whole HIV-AIDS initiative. It is shameful.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Mr. Speaker, if the gentlewoman will 
yield further, I guess, once again, it is not a priority. It is back to 
Robin Hood. They do not have the big-time lobbyists up here, although 
the world community is looking to the United States for leadership in 
this area, and it is just has not been a priority.
  I really want to commend the gentlewoman. I am going to let her 
close. I want to thank her so much for her leadership in the housing 
area, in what she has done as far as HIV, just stressing the importance 
of having a dedicated source of revenue for housing, because, as I 
said, the memo went around where this administration indicated if 
reelected, every single domestic, domestic, program, would be cut.
  Ms. LEE. I want to thank the gentlewoman.
  Ms. CORRINE BROWN of Florida. Elections have consequences.
  Ms. LEE. I thank the gentlewoman for joining us this evening and for 
her steady hard work and leadership on housing and so many issues, 
especially with regard to our veterans, our children, senior citizens 
and all of those that she so forcefully and eloquently speak on behalf 
of. Hopefully, after tonight, maybe the bell will alarm, maybe the drum 
has been beat a bit louder because of her very powerful statement 
tonight.
  Mr. Speaker, let me just close by saying how important this 
discussion is and how many of us feel that housing is a basic human 
right, and until we realize that and establish policies that indicate 
that, the American dream will continue to be a nightmare for millions 
of Americans.
  Our country does not have a housing policy. We need a national 
housing policy. We need a national housing agenda that speaks to the 
housing needs of the low income, the poor, the working poor, the middle 
income, the upper income, all of those who care about housing and the 
homeless.
  Until we provide those basics, such as food and shelter, for the 
least of these, I do not believe we are living up to our commitment in 
terms of our faith, in terms of those who we care about, in terms of 
making sure that liberty and justice for all is the order of the day.
  I just urge all Members of this House to please help us move our 
housing initiative forward by signing the Lee-Sanders-Capuano discharge 
commitment. Please sign it next week before we leave, because the 
people of America need to know that housing and the economic security 
of families and children is not a partisan issue; that Democrats, 
Republicans, independents, all care about it, and we want this American 
dream to be real for each and every American.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, from Vermont to California, there is an 
affordable housing crisis in this country and it is only getting worse. 
Millions of Americans who are working 40 hours a week, senior citizens, 
and persons with disabilities are paying over 50 percent of their 
limited incomes on housing. For families living paycheck to paycheck, 
one unforeseen circumstance--a sick child, a lost job, a medical 
emergency--can send them into homelessness. These life-shattering 
events happen every day in America and it is a national disgrace.
  Mr. Speaker, if you don't believe us, just ask the half-million 
veterans who put their lives on the line defending this country or the 
more than one million children who will experience homelessness this 
year if they believe there is an affordable housing crisis. Ask moms 
and dads who are working 40 hours a week that have to sleep in their 
cars or out on the street because they can't pay the rent, if there's 
an affordable housing crisis in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, the sad reality is that there is not a single place in 
America today where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford an 
average 2 bedroom apartment. Not a single place in America.
  Legislation that I have introduced to establish a National Affordable 
Housing Trust Fund (H.R. 1102) will begin to put an end to this crisis 
once and for all. It will give states and localities the resources they 
need to build at least one and a half million affordable housing rental 
units in this country leading to the creation of 1.8 million new jobs 
and nearly $50 billion in wages. In other words, the National 
Affordable Housing Trust Fund is a win-win that will put people back to 
work and into affordable housing.
  Unfortunately, despite over 200 tri-partisan co-sponsors; despite the 
support of over 5,000 organizations representing organized labor, big 
business, environmentalists, banks, religious leaders, and affordable 
housing advocates, a vote has not been scheduled for this bill. For 
over 3 years, the Administration has opposed this legislation, while 
its policies have made the affordable housing crisis even worse. While 
Congress has provided hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to 
the wealthiest one percent over the past 3 years, we are forcing our 
nation's low-income senior citizens, veterans, and families with 
children to pay the price.
  Well, in less than 48 hours, over 100 Members of Congress have signed 
a discharge petition to force a vote on the National Affordable Housing 
Trust Fund Act immediately.
  Mr. Speaker, while 218 signatures are required in order to succeed, I 
hope you don't make us wait that long. I hope that we can convince you 
that this bill is needed now more than ever.
  Mr. Speaker, I know that is a tough decision for you to make. But, 
quite frankly, people all over this country are making much tougher 
choices.
  This evening a mom and dad will be at the kitchen table staring at 
their bills. They will have to make a choice. Do we pay the rent; or do 
we feed our children.
  Tomorrow morning a senior citizen who worked hard and played by the 
rules all of her adult life will have to make a choice. Will she pay 
the rent; or will she pay for her life saving prescription drugs.
  Mr. Speaker, it doesn't have to be this way. In the richest country 
on earth, families should not have to make these unacceptable choices. 
That's what the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund campaign is all 
about.
  And, just today, Jack Kemp and Henry Cisneros, former HUD Secretaries 
under President George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, respectively have 
endorsed the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund.
  David Broder, wrote in the Washington Post this morning that the 
Kemp-Cisneros ``Recommendations strike me as practical and specific--
not tilted to the left or the right. . . . They endorse the 
establishment of a National Housing Trust Fund, an idea that has 
gathered increasing support in Congress, to provide the capital needed 
to produce, preserve or rehabilitate at least 1.5 million affordable 
housing units over the next 10 years.''
  And, according to the bipartisan National Millennial Housing 
Commission, created by Congress, and co-chaired by our former colleague 
Susan Molinari, ``The addition of 150,000 [affordable housing rental] 
units annually would make substantial progress toward meeting the 
housing needs of extremely low income households, but it would take 
annual production of more than 250,000 units for more than 20 years to 
close the gap.''
  Mr. Speaker, the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act will 
close this serious affordable housing gap. In fact, if H.R. 1102 was 
signed into law, we could more than triple affordable housing 
construction next year and provide accommodations to more than 100,000 
families. In short, the establishment of a National Affordable Housing 
Trust Fund is needed now more than ever. I urge my colleagues to sign 
the Discharge Petition. By doing this today, we can mark the beginning 
of the end of the affordable housing crisis.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the remainder of my time.

                          ____________________