    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [December 29, 1999]
    [Page 2350]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Housing Vouchers
    December 29, 1999

        I am pleased to announce that my budget for FY 2001 will include
    $690 million for 120,000 new housing vouchers to help America's hard-
    pressed working families. These housing vouchers subsidize the rents of
    low income Americans, helping them to move closer to job opportunities.
    Housing vouchers are a critical part of my administration's efforts to
    reform welfare, reward work, support working families, and provide
    affordable housing for low income families.
        In today's booming economy, about two-thirds of new jobs are being
    created in the suburbs, far from where many low income families live.
    These new housing vouchers will enable families to move closer to a new
    job, reduce a long commute, or secure more stable housing that will help
    them get or keep a job. We should use 32,000 of the 120,000 new housing
    vouchers to help families moving from welfare to work and to use 18,000
    vouchers to help homeless individuals and families secure permanent
    housing.
        Last year we worked with Congress to secure 50,000 housing vouchers,
    the first in 4 years. This November we fought hard to provide 60,000
    additional vouchers for hard-pressed working families in the final FY
    2000 budget agreement, after having been eliminated by both the House
    and Senate bills. As we work on the next budget, I urge Congress to join
    me in a bipartisan effort to fund new housing vouchers that will make
    housing more affordable for more working Americans.