[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 182 (Wednesday, November 8, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8647-H8652]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1745
                       PUBLIC HOUSING IMPERATIVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under the Speaker's announced policy of 
January 3, 2017, the gentleman from New York (Mr. Espaillat) is 
recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority leader.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the subject of my Special Order.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New York?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I stand here today to shed light and to 
put a face on an imperative issue, the imperative issue of affordable 
housing. I am here representing neighborhoods like Marble Hill, Inwood, 
Washington Heights, Hamilton Heights, Morningside Heights, Harlem and 
east Harlem, and the northwest Bronx.
  Public housing and public housing capital funding is imperative for 
many of my constituents. Just to shed some light on the magnitude of 
this problem, Mr. Speaker, in the 13th Congressional District, there 
are 62 housing developments--62 public housing developments.
  There are a total of 340 buildings, and, within those buildings, 
there are 34,609 apartments where families live; so 62 housing 
developments out of 326 for the entire city of New York, 340 buildings 
out of 2,462 buildings in the city of New York, and 34,609 apartments 
out of 176,692 apartments across the city of New York.
  In fact, Mr. Speaker, public housing houses over 400,000 residents. 
It is larger than many cities in many States across the Nation, and 
public housing capital funding is imperative and necessary for my 
constituents.
  Not only do these residents rely on stable, affordable housing to 
stay close to their families and be near their jobs and schools, but 
our city relies on these residents who are also teachers, home 
healthcare workers, caregivers, and taxi drivers. They run our city. In 
fact, they are an integral part of the economic engine of the city. 
They are part of our local economy. They fuel our economy on a daily 
basis. Mr. Speaker, these folks really represent the economic engine of 
New York City.
  As you will hear from my colleagues, affordable housing--public 
housing--and its residents are under threat. After a decade of funding 
reductions, the President's administration made one thing clear: they 
plan to drastically accelerate funding reductions for HUD. This turns 
that housing agency, essentially, into an absentee landlord, into a 
slumlord, if you will, administrating public housing developments 
across the country that are in decrepit and seriously embarrassing 
conditions.
  The administration's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal revealed a $7.6 
billion cut, almost a 20 percent cut to HUD, and a two-thirds cut to 
public housing capital needs.
  Now, New York City has a need of $17 billion to do point work, roof 
work, boiler work, and elevator work to improve the quality of life of 
the residents of these housing developments. Yet the administration has 
proposed a $7.6 billion cut. This is a national crisis, an affordable 
housing national crisis.
  We have Members from California to Texas to New York who all believe 
that affordable housing should be at the forefront of our progressive 
priority. It is a fundamental cornerstone of the American Dream that we 
cannot afford to let slip away.

[[Page H8648]]

  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the distinguished gentlewoman from the State 
of Texas (Ms. Jackson Lee).
  Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, let me give my greatest appreciation to 
the gentleman from New York, who will remain at the podium as he has 
yielded to me, and to thank him for the leadership that he has given to 
so many issues.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for the leadership work 
that he took to Puerto Rico that will need housing, and the U.S. Virgin 
Islands that will need housing. The neighborhoods that he has just 
mentioned, I am quite familiar with. I know those neighborhoods in New 
York. I have relatives in New York.
  But I also know the neighborhoods in Texas, and I know the public 
housing developments. I want to join the gentleman in that terminology 
because, remember, it used to be the projects. But we know that public 
housing developments are where people live. It is where they raise 
their children. When you have a home in the public housing development, 
it needs maintenance, elevators, window reinforcement, hallways cleaned 
up, painting done, and, yes, debugging, and brick-by-brick repair, or 
it may be a new addition.
  All of my life, I have met my classmates in public, elementary, and 
middle school, and they live in the housing developments, many of whom 
I could go back to, and they are doctors, lawyers, teachers, business 
persons, and Congresspersons. They are upstanding citizens. But we also 
know that they have said to us that you have allowed these public 
housing developments to deteriorate so that children of families who 
live there now may be subjected to violence and drugs, and it is not 
their home.
  Let me tell you why we are in that predicament.
  Right now, as we speak, they are marking up the tax scam. If you look 
at this pie, you will see that it will be impossible for any moneys to 
go for public housing or affordable housing because 80 percent of the 
tax cuts will go to the 1 percent. That means that we will lose $1.5 
trillion in revenue.
  What Congressman Espaillat is talking about is that we will be losing 
and will not be able--as the budget that was passed evidences with $2.4 
trillion in cuts in domestic discretionary spending, it will not allow 
the work that we are calling for today: reconstruction, new build, 
rehab, repairs, and adding to the housing stock in America for our 
people who are in need.
  Let me show you this. It may not be exactly in our neighborhood, but 
it shows you what happened in a disaster. This is a house, or a place 
where people would be in a house. I could go to Texas after 
Hurricane Harvey and find houses in this condition. I could go to Port 
Aransas or Rockport. I can go to Third Ward or northeast Houston.

  In our community, Mr. Speaker, we have what we call blue tarps after 
the hurricane, and they stay on because people are in houses that they 
cannot afford to repair. They need affordable housing.
  Do you know what? They want to live in historic neighborhoods like 
Fifth Ward where Barbara Jordan grew up, Sunnyside, South Park, Third 
Ward, Acres Homes, northeast Houston, and Independence Heights, but 
they need housing.
  So I join the gentleman in saying that this is a travesty. This is a 
disgrace. We need funding for affordable housing. Hurricane Harvey has 
made it even more disastrous because there are people in housing now 
right in my district--and I hear you in northeast Houston where the 
walls are pulled out and the mold is on because they need affordable 
housing. They need Section 8 vouchers and clean housing.
  Mr. Speaker, let me tell you about the affordable housing and public 
housing. I have lost 112 units through Hurricane Harvey in 
condemnation, and I may lose more out of a total of 201 in one 
particular two-story area of Clayton Homes; and then 2100 Memorial, we 
are fighting to not lose the housing that is needed there.
  So I want to join and thank the Congressional Progressive Caucus and 
thank the gentleman for leading this Special Order. I want to make sure 
that I keep this picture up for America to know that unless we fight 
against these dastardly cuts, whether you are in a disaster area and 
have lost your home; or whether you are in a city like New York and are 
facing the deterioration of public housing, or the elimination of units 
taken offline; or whether you are in Houston, Texas, under the Houston 
Housing Authority and you are losing units, the cry is for the families 
of America.
  Who do we care for? Some of them are families of Active-Duty 
soldiers. Some of them are families of veterans. So I would join the 
gentleman in crafting and working on stopping the bleeding of losing 
affordable housing for the many millions of Americans who need it and 
welcome it, and for the millions of children who deserve it.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding to me, and I thank 
him again for his leadership.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from 
Texas for her eloquent remarks regarding this pressing need, this 
national crisis of housing.
  Let me just share with you some other numbers that will further 
ensure that the American people understand in full depth this crisis.
  In my district, as I said earlier, there are 75,463 residents of 
public housing out of 400,000 citywide. There are 34,035 NYCHA families 
in the district out of 174,283 citywide. Twenty-five percent are 
children who are subject to mold like you see right here on this easel, 
Mr. Speaker, mold that contributes to asthma and to other respiratory 
diseases that then lead to absenteeism in the schools and long-term 
problems for young people and children who live in these public housing 
units.
  In addition to that, Mr. Speaker, 21 percent of the residents of 
these housing developments are seniors over 62 years old who are also 
subjected to mold, chipping paint, and elevators that don't work. They 
have to go up and down 18 or 20 stories. Some of them are in 
wheelchairs or have some real challenges getting around. Yet the 
Federal Government and its Department of Housing and Urban Development, 
HUD, continue to be an absentee landlord abandoning them to their own 
fate. Fifty-two percent of those residents, Mr. Speaker, are on fixed 
incomes, and 46 percent across the city have an employed family member. 
So these are the numbers that are very telling to this national crisis.
  The reduction in capital funding which leads to the deterioration of 
buildings' roofs and facades, failure of boilers, leaks, mold like we 
see right here, and other unacceptable conditions are devastating to my 
constituents, and they contribute to a public health crisis, asthma, 
respiratory disease.
  Americans need a better deal for housing. As we continue negotiations 
on the fiscal year 2018 appropriations and the administration prepares 
the fiscal 2019 budget proposal, we need to ensure that public housing 
is adequately funded.

                              {time}  1800

  Sufficient capital funding is imperative for my district and the 
country, and it ensures the creation of jobs through capital work.
  Investing capital dollars in public housing repair would also yield 
employment in our communities. It also ensures the reduction of 
negative health outcomes and healthcare costs related to the 
deterioration of housing conditions. It also results in quality, stable 
housing for low-income Americans, which is one of the most important 
factors in the alleviation of poverty.
  Americans need a better deal for housing. I hope that my colleagues 
remember the constituency that we serve, particularly the most 
vulnerable ones like the residents of public housing, and we continue 
to fight back against budget cuts. Growing the public housing capital 
fund must be elevated as a priority.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from California (Mr. Gomez).
  Mr. GOMEZ. Mr. Speaker, I thank Congressman Espaillat for leading 
this important Special Order.
  It is no secret that many cities in our country face an affordable 
housing crisis. That crisis is particularly acute in California, as 
everyone in my State, from the Bay Area to Los Angeles to the Inland 
Empire, will tell you.
  California is a desired destination for people from all over the 
world, many of

[[Page H8649]]

them skilled, tech-savvy young people who moved to California for our 
climate, culture, or commerce. This is especially true for my home city 
of Los Angeles, which boasts cultures and cuisines from all over the 
globe, allowing anybody to feel at home.
  Unfortunately, the growth of affordable housing has not kept pace 
with the population growth. This disconnect has created a housing 
affordability crisis that is exacerbating economic inequality and 
forcing lifelong Angelinos out of neighborhoods they grew up in.
  The lack of housing raises rents on working families, which, in turn, 
threatens the vibrant hubs of Latino, Black, and Asian culture 
throughout my district, potentially stripping these neighborhoods of 
their character that made them so unique and desirable to live in in 
the first place.
  Our affordable housing crisis has left more than 400,000 households 
in the city of Los Angeles and 900,00 in L.A. County in what they call 
a precarious housing situation. A precarious housing situation means 
that the dwelling is substandard, families are doubled up, or they 
spend more than half their income on housing.
  That is 1.3 million people in precarious housing situations, 
teetering on the edge of homelessness, one bad day away from losing the 
roof over their head. That is on top of 58,000 homeless individuals in 
Los Angeles County.
  Simply put, the affordability crisis in California threatens our 
State's great legacy to provide economic opportunity for all.
  In Los Angeles, we have seen that, when we target our resources to 
help specific populations, we get results and we save lives. In 2015, 
L.A. City housed more than 15,000 people, including 2,600 veterans and 
2,800 chronically homeless people, more than any other city in the 
country.
  Despite the historic housing shortage and a staggering mental health 
crisis, my city has proven that policymakers can tackle this problem if 
we have a coordinated effort at the State, local, and Federal levels.
  L.A. is stepping up. So is the State of California. L.A. passed 
measure HHH, which is $1.2 billion to help individuals who are 
homeless. The California State Legislature passed 15 housing bills and 
a $4 billion bond to be on the ballot in 2018.
  But we can't do it on our own, and we don't need the Federal 
Government to undermine our efforts by undermining their role and 
responsibility at the Federal level. Unfortunately, our Republican-led 
Federal Government doesn't believe in being a good partner and doesn't 
believe in combating unaffordable housing and homelessness. They have 
chosen to starve vital agencies like Housing and Urban Development and 
zero out funding for agencies such as the Interagency Council on 
Homelessness.
  Cities like L.A. and States like California need responsible Federal 
partners to tackle issues like homelessness so they can make tough 
choices and make sure we have a housing situation that serves all 
people. That starts with actual Federal investment in projects and 
programs that help people, not just the rich. That is why the 
Republican tax cut plan is such a sham and deserves to go back to 
whatever dark corner of Republican dogma it came from.
  As it stands right now, the Republican tax plan would cut the 
production of affordable housing in half by eliminating multifamily, 
tax-exempt housing bonds. It would also repeal the 4 percent tax credit 
and provisions authorizing the use of tax-exempt private activity 
bonds. Taken together, these provisions account for 50 percent of all 
affordable housing production and would make our affordable housing 
crisis even worse.
  Republicans in Congress only claim to care about giving States the 
power to pursue their own policies. It would be great if their actions 
matched their words and they actually worked with our great cities and 
States to address important problems instead of making them worse.
  I ask for all of you to consider that any tax plan not exacerbate the 
housing crisis in our country.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Espaillat for leading this 
important Special Order.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, earlier, I talked about some of the 
proposed budget cuts that HUD has brought forward for this fiscal year. 
Let me tell you, the American people, what some of the programs are 
that will be negatively, adversely affected by these cuts on a daily 
basis.
  Section 8, a program that provides rental assistance to help low-
income individuals and families, more than 125,000 households in New 
York City's NYCHA complexes depend on Section 8 vouchers, 39,000 of 
which are administered by the city's HPD Department. Approximately half 
of the voucher recipients are elderly and disabled.

  Community Development Block Grants help the city enforce housing 
quality standards. More than half of the city's Community Development 
Block Grant allocations support housing quality standards funding; 
500,000 inspections have been conducted, 8,000 emergency repairs, 
16,000 housing litigation cases, and emergency shelters for 1,000 
households, just in 2016.
  The Low Income Housing Tax Credit, nationally, 90 percent of the 
affordable housing is financed through the Low Income Housing Tax 
Credit. The Low Income Housing Tax Credit and tax-exempt bonds have 
helped create and preserve over 116,000 safe, quality, affordable homes 
in New York City.
  These programs will be compromised and lead to apartments with mold, 
chipping paint, leaky pipes, dysfunctioning elevators, failing boilers, 
and leaky roofs. So this is a major national crisis.
  Let me share with you some of my constituents' stories. Now that we 
have talked about numbers, let's talk about what these numbers mean and 
who they impact.
  Let's talk about, for example, a lady named Maria Pacheco, who has 
lived in the UPACA 6 development for 12 years. She is retired from 
working at the stock market. This is what she had to say about the 
importance of making capital improvements to her public housing 
building:

       If NYCHA fixes the entrance doors and the walkway in front 
     of the development, more seniors would be able to get out of 
     their apartments more often. There are a number of seniors 
     who do not come out of their apartments because they are not 
     able to open the entrance doors. Those doors are really heavy 
     and the walkway is dangerous, and a lot of seniors fear they 
     will fall.

  Maria Pacheco needs a better deal in housing from Congress. Seniors 
are too afraid that they will fall.
  During Secretary Ben Carson's listening tour--by the way, Mr. 
Secretary, New York City is still waiting for you to see our public 
housing complexes and the conditions that they are in--during his so-
called listening tour, this is what he had to say to a development in 
Columbus, Ohio, that is partially funded by HUD: ``Compassion means not 
giving people a comfortable setting that would make somebody want to 
say: `I'll just stay here. They will take care of me.' ''
  Mr. Secretary, ``a comfortable setting,'' you said. Public housing 
often lacks consistent heat and hot water. That is far from being 
comfortable.
  Public housing elevators often break down. That is far from being 
comfortable.
  Public housing often has no heat and hot water and mold on the wall. 
That is far from being comfortable.
  I think my constituent Birdie Glen, age 78, who lives in the Jackie 
Robinson Development with her husband and great-grandson would disagree 
with you, Mr. Secretary. She is retired from the Department of 
Education, and this is what she had to say:

       If they fix the boilers in the Jackie Robinson Development, 
     the residents would be more grateful and appreciative. The 
     lack of consistent heat and hot water has caused a lot of the 
     residents to get sick. Adults as well as children have been 
     visiting the doctor's office more frequently due to getting 
     sick because of no heat and hot water.

  This has become a public health crisis as well. During the winter 
months, residents experience more illnesses in the Jackie Robinson 
complexes because the boilers need to be replaced.
  Another resident, Felicia Rodriguez, 70 years old, who lives in the 
Gaylord Houses, says:

       In my 2 years living at Gaylord, I have experienced severe 
     flooding, water damages in different areas of my apartment. 
     If we had repairs and upgrades in our development, we will 
     value our homes and neighborhood. We need to ensure we get 
     the repairs completed in a timely manner to avoid further 
     damages to our infrastructure.
       Gaylord has significant leaks due to the pipe damage, brick 
     gaps, roof damage. These problems affect our health, our 
     hygiene, and

[[Page H8650]]

     economic issues for many seniors in Gaylord development. By 
     making major roof and brick repairs at Gaylord White Houses, 
     we will eliminate leaks, flooding, and damage to the top 
     floors of these apartments.

  This is a public health crisis.
  Let's talk, Mr. Speaker, about public health and mold.
  In every city, there is an aging public housing development complex, 
and a lack of investment for decades means that many buildings pose 
great, great health risks to the residents. In New York City, a 
majority of NYCHA buildings are more than 60 years old. Public housing 
authorities have endured decades of Federal disinvestment. For many, a 
lack of affordable funds means that repairs have spiraled out of 
control. Some units are so damaged that they cannot be lived in.
  Citywide, there are 2,300 NYCHA units that are vacant, and many need 
extensive renovations to become safe homes again. Not only is the lack 
of Federal investment hurting the number of public housing units 
available, but vacant units almost always make public housing less safe 
for current residents.
  Speaking to DNAinfo, Jisele Hearne elaborates how vacant units make 
the Harlem River Houses less safe: ``Of course, we are worried. Anyone 
can come in and you don't know what they are going to do. They can . . 
. leave the gas on. It's not safe living someplace where nobody is 
monitoring.''
  Harlem River Houses has been plagued with mold for many years, and 
units on the top floors have remained uninhabited.
  Mold affects 328 NYCHA properties, and the situation has only 
worsened after Hurricane Sandy. That was in 2012. We need capital 
investment not just to eradicate the appearance of mold; we need to 
address the root cause of that. We need to replace leaky roofs, 
crumbling pipes, and all ventilation systems to make sure the mold is 
gone forever, for good.

                              {time}  1815

  The health of children, families, and seniors is at stake. The CDC 
reports that exposure to mold can lead to coughing, wheezing, eye and 
skin irritation in otherwise healthy people.
  For small children, exposure to mold may lead to asthma, leading to 
absenteeism in the schools. For vulnerable residents, such as seniors 
or small children, mold may lead to much more serious medical 
conditions.
  The government is the landlord of public housing complexes across the 
country, and we cannot expect public housing residents to deal with 
conditions that would be deemed unacceptable in the private market. It 
is our solemn duty to make sure that public housing residents have 
homes that allow them to lead healthy and productive lives.
  If we can afford to spend $1.75 million remodeling one unit in public 
housing--that is the White House that I am referring to, which is 
public housing. If we could spend $1.75 million to renovate the most 
expensive public housing unit, the White House, then surely, Mr. 
President, we can afford to guarantee safe homes for public housing 
residents.
  If President Trump can spend $291,000 on office walls, then America's 
1.16 million units of public housing should have walls free of mold, 
like the one we see right here, and other safety hazards. Unlike the 
White House, residents of public housing cannot afford lavish 
renovations. They depend on us, and we must not fail them.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Lee), my 
distinguished colleague.
  Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first let me thank Congressman Espaillat for 
yielding and for his tremendous leadership and advocacy to ensure that 
our communities have access to affordable housing, regardless of their 
income, regardless of their background. I want to thank the 
Congressional Progressive Caucus and him for leading this Special Order 
tonight because it is so important that the public really understand 
the issues that we are dealing with here in Washington, D.C., on behalf 
of the American people.
  Tonight, of course, we are calling on the Trump administration and 
our colleagues across the aisle for greater investments in affordable 
housing, including in public housing.
  Affordable housing should be a basic right. No one should have to 
choose between placing food on the table or paying their rent, 
especially not in the wealthiest country on Earth. Sadly, right now, 
our country is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. Half of 
all families in this country are forced to spend more than 30 percent 
of their hard-earned income on housing.
  Over 38 million families struggle to pay rent and put food on the 
table every day because they pay more than one-third of their income on 
housing. Right now there are only 12 counties in the entire country 
where a minimum-wage worker is able to afford a modest two-bedroom 
apartment.
  Simply put, the housing crisis in America has reached epidemic 
proportions. It is really a state of emergency. Nowhere is this 
epidemic more evident than, for example, in my own district. The 
average renter in Oakland, California, for example, would be forced to 
spend a staggering 70 percent of their income on housing if they were 
to move today--70 percent--and many are being forced out.
  In Oakland, the number of homeless individuals increased by 25 
percent this year to more than 2,700 people. In all of my county, 
Alameda County, the homelessness population has increased by nearly 40 
percent in the last 2 years to more than 5,600 people.
  Now, these people have settled into encampments with all of their 
furniture and belongings across the streets of cities in my district. 
It is unconscionable and devastating that this un-American reality 
persists across the country.
  Yet, instead of working to address this crisis, Republicans have 
slashed funding, mind you, for housing assistance programs to their 
lowest level in 40 years. In the Republican fiscal year 2018 budget, 
there are over $200 billion in cuts from programs that everyday 
families depend on, like SNAP, agricultural subsidies, and housing 
assistance.
  What is worse, the Trump budget slashes the budget of the Department 
of Housing and Urban Development by nearly 15 percent. The Secretary of 
HUD, I guess, supports this, which is mind-boggling because he is 
charged with developing housing strategies so that everyone can have 
decent, affordable housing. To cut it by 15 percent makes no sense.
  This endangers the livelihoods of millions of low-income seniors, 
people with disabilities, families with children, veterans, low-wage 
workers, families living with HIV and AIDS, which they all depend on 
affordable housing programs.
  Our Progressive Caucus colleagues and I are here tonight to say that, 
really, enough is enough. We demand affordable housing for every person 
in our Nation, regardless of who they are and where they live, and we 
are not giving up.
  Earlier this year, I introduced a renters' bill of rights. It is H. 
Con. Res. 74, which affirms that all renters have the right to safe, 
decent, and affordable housing. It calls for greater enforcement of 
antidiscrimination laws that protect communities of color from 
burdensome regulations. It calls on Congress to increase funding to 
protect every American's right to livable and affordable housing.
  So as a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, I am 
committed to advancing the American Dream for all, and that is 
affordable housing. People deserve to have a decent and safe place to 
live to raise their families.
  So to everyone across the country who worry about paying rent or 
whether they can finally, at the end of the day, buy a home, I say: 
Keep raising your voices and keep bringing what we call street heat to 
defend your communities, because you have got allies in the 
Congressional Progressive Caucus. You have got them in this House of 
Representatives, especially Democrats. We are not going to give up 
fighting for you.

  I want to thank Congressman Espaillat for holding this Special Order 
tonight because I think the public, given this crisis--and it is a 
crisis, it is an epidemic, it is an emergency--people need to know we 
are here fighting for them, and we are going to continue fighting until 
everyone in America has a decent, safe, and affordable place to live.
  Mr. ESPAILLAT. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from

[[Page H8651]]

the State of California for her eloquent words.
  Mr. Speaker, I would like to highlight another factor that 
contributes to the problem of the lack of affordable housing, and that 
is the decreasing affordability crisis in New York City.
  Historically, New York City was built on inclusivity, and it is here 
that people from all walks of life come in and they coexist. It is this 
diversity that contributes to the success of this great experiment 
called America, this great experiment called New York City. It is young 
people moving here from Tennessee and immigrant families from the 
Dominican Republic, like my family, for their own American Dream right 
here in New York City. And New York City's success is one piece of the 
national picture of urbanization.
  This enormous change in cities across the country includes an influx 
of more people, often young and from diverse backgrounds. This means we 
need the visionaries in expanding our housing supply, especially our 
affordable housing supply.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why we are here today, to highlight on this 
national crisis of a lack of affordable housing. America has a housing 
crisis--an affordable housing crisis. Working and middle class New 
Yorkers have felt the brunt of fewer options available on the market.
  Countless middle- and low-income families cannot afford to live in 
the neighborhoods they have known their entire lives. They must give up 
living close to jobs, schools, familiar neighbors, and everything else 
that defines their community.
  The very foundation of our city is threatened when households must 
make difficult choices between basic necessities and rent. That is 
truly a fight for the soul of our neighborhoods, our cities; and they 
are often forced to leave these houses and communities.
  This is not a crisis that affects only a few. It impacts many New 
Yorkers. Sixty-nine percent of New Yorkers rent their homes, and nearly 
half of renters struggle to pay rent every month. Many are one 
unexpected bill away from debt or eviction.
  While this situation is dire for those struggling to pay rent in 
their apartments now, there are virtually no options for low-income New 
Yorkers. Minimum-wage workers will need to have three full-time jobs or 
work at least 119 hours per week to be able to afford a two-bedroom 
apartment at market rate.
  Not only is it physically impossible, but we should not ask that of 
workers in our city. The crisis of affordability nationwide will not 
vanish if ignored. So long as New York's economy is thriving, rents 
won't plateau or fall on their own. Developers will continue to eye 
aging buildings for redevelopment and build new luxury apartments. 
Rather than leave the creation and preservation of affordable housing 
up to chance or whims of the market, we must be intentional about 
funding affordable housing.
  We already have a housing stock of 176,000 units of public housing in 
New York City alone. That is the lifeline of hundreds of thousands of 
residents, but it is in dire need of investment.
  If we care about diversity and care about inclusion, we must put our 
money where our mouth is and we must repair and preserve public housing 
for a future of increasingly expensive cities.
  Another aspect of the lack of affordable housing and the income gaps 
affecting New York City is the dynamic of gentrification. Mr. Speaker, 
I have the distinct honor of representing Harlem, which recently was--
there was an attempt to change its name to SoHa by speculators, people 
who want to turn Harlem, a traditional iconic neighborhood of New York 
City, into something else.
  There are Harlems in every State across the country. There are 
Harlems in every country around the world. Harlem is a personality. It 
is an attitude. Harlem is for those who feel that perhaps they don't 
have a voice but they want to fight to get to another level. That is 
Harlem. It is a spirit.
  Harlem, which, during the latter half of the 20th century, was 
plagued with crime and abandonment, is now falling victim to its own 
success. Rents have risen and many long-term residents have been 
displaced.
  The same is happening in Washington Heights, Inwood. Neighborhoods 
that saw over 100 homicides every year and that now are down to low 
single digits are seeing a dramatic increase in rent and affordability; 
and many folks who have been living there for decades, like my family, 
are now having to make tough choices of whether they remain in the 
neighborhood that they love or have to move somewhere else.
  Even among those who remain, they still face additional challenges 
because the neighborhood they have known for so many years now feels 
unfamiliar. For many, the fear of displacement is ever-present.
  Mrs. Gwen Walker, a resident of the General Grant Houses in 
Morningside Heights since the 1950s, was speaking to The New York Times 
when she shared her thoughts on displacement, saying the following: 
``But the feeling is, `What am I going to do? Where are we going to 
go?'''
  Gentrification was a frequent topic of conversation among Mrs. Walker 
and her neighbors.
  So I continue to highlight the fact that not only do we have a public 
housing crisis, not only does that lead to a public health crisis, but 
also the skyrocketing cost of living has created gentrification, has 
made it very difficult for working people--the engine of the economy of 
the city--to make ends meet.
  These residents are worth protecting, and low-income New Yorkers 
should not be pushed aside every time a speculator or developer thinks 
that a building, a block, or a neighborhood could be worth more money.
  For neighborhoods that have already gentrified, public housing is the 
only standing thing between them and displacement. They are the 
lifeline for many tenants, and unlike market rate housing, they will 
not raise rent on their residents when the neighborhood improves.
  This is paramount. This is paramount for many low-and fixed-income 
New Yorkers because they are not further burdened for not abandoning 
their homes.

                              {time}  1830

  And the displacement continues to occur in New York City, Madam 
Speaker. It is a harsh reality after tenants on the private market are 
evicted, bought out, or cannot afford a rent increase. After losing 
their home, families have few choices. Some families end up in 
overcrowded apartments, if they are lucky, living with another family 
member or living with a stranger.
  David, who is a Mexican immigrant, lives in Washington Heights. He 
lives with 12 other people in a 750-square-foot section of the 
basement. Another 14 people live in the other half.
  He explained, speaking to New York Magazine, that, for $100 each, 
they get 40 square feet, a children's bunk bed, and a refrigerator 
salvaged from the trash. Their basement is hard to move around in and 
impossible to walk anywhere but to the leaking bathroom down the 
cramped hall or to the small living room with the scavenged sofa. The 
basement costs David and his 27 roommates almost $3,000 a month.
  This is not an uncommon experience. Citywide, two-thirds of all 
Mexicans live in overcrowded conditions. David described his journey 
and realization of what living in New York City would be like for him:

       From the airport, I went to my brother's place in 
     Washington Heights. He was living with his child and pregnant 
     wife, along with another couple and their kid--six people. I 
     was the seventh. In only one room.

  America should know this: there is a public housing and affordable 
housing crisis across the country, and HUD proposes to dramatically cut 
the programs that guarantee the services for this housing.
  David also experienced the loss of his home and an understanding that 
his place in the city is always vulnerable.
  This is all happening, Madam Speaker, while Republicans continue to 
devise, to plan, premeditatedly, to plan their tax reform that will 
give the rich, the 1 percent, a handsome tax cut while punishing the 
middle class and working class sectors of America.
  There is only one unit of public housing that is worth over $390 
million, Madam Speaker, and it is the White House. The White House does 
not have mold. The White House does not have crumbling pipes. The White 
House does

[[Page H8652]]

not have severe water damage or asbestos because the White House is not 
plagued by disinvestment.
  President Trump does not pay rent, and he is not in danger of being 
priced out of his neighborhood. And yet President Trump and 
congressional Republicans are proposing to strip cities of their 
ability to create and maintain affordable housing for those who most 
desperately need it.
  The Ryan-McConnell tax bill is a lie that is being sold to the 
American people as a promise, a promise that claims that everyday 
Americans will benefit and see more dollars in their pockets. But it is 
a scam; it is a shell game; and it will make richer the rich and leave 
everybody else behind.
  The proposed tax plan eliminates funding for low-income housing tax 
credits, which are responsible for many affordable developments. The 
need for affordable housing is ever growing, and the low-income housing 
tax credit must be expanded, not eliminated, to keep up with demand. 
For New Yorkers, every dollar in their paycheck matters when it comes 
to being able to pay rent.
  Removing the State and local tax deduction, called SALT, places an 
unfair double tax on State residents. States who choose to provide 
high-quality services through taxation will be unfairly punished. This 
unjust punishment will be felt mostly by those who live paycheck to 
paycheck.
  In some neighborhoods in New York City, residents spend as much as 80 
percent of their income on housing and transportation. Removing the 
State and local tax deduction means that families who already make 
tough decisions about food, rent, and other bills now have fewer 
dollars in their pockets to make those decisions.
  For families that have saved up enough to participate in the American 
Dream of owning their home, they no longer will be able to use the 
mortgage interest tax deduction to help them finance their homes. For 
many hopeful families, eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction 
closes the door to that opportunity.
  The low-income housing tax credit, the State and local tax deduction, 
and the mortgage interest tax deduction are the foundation from which 
we can build affordable communities. We will not give in to the GOP tax 
scam; we will not play in a shell game; and we will not give 
billionaires even one more dollar. America deserves a better deal.
  Madam Speaker, I close by saying that, in my home State of New York, 
the Empire State, and particularly in my district, for the last 75 
years, it has been represented by two giants: first, by the late and 
great Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who made history right here in these 
Chambers; and for the last 46 years, by the ``Lion of Lenox Avenue,'' 
Charles B. Rangel.
  Underfunding of affordable housing in that district starves public 
housing and is compromising the health of public housing residents. 
HUD's capital backlog of $26 billion cannot be added to. We must be 
responsible and take hold of this challenge.
  For the public health of our constituents, to preserve the American 
Dream, I urge my colleagues to vote and make affordable housing a 
priority.
  Madam Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Tenney). Members are reminded to address 
their remarks to the Chair and not to a perceived viewing audience.

                          ____________________