[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 37 (Monday, September 18, 2000)]
[Pages 2051-2052]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on the Need for Congressional Action on Housing Vouchers

September 12, 2000

    I am pleased that, today, Secretary of the Department of Housing and 
Urban Development Andrew Cuomo is announcing a plan to increase payment 
levels for Section 8 housing choice vouchers. Raising the fair market 
rent level in certain difficult housing markets across the country will 
increase the pool of apartments affordable to low-income renters by more 
than 1.4 million units nationwide. This important initiative builds on 
the significant progress the Vice President and I have made on 
affordable housing--boosting homeownership to record levels, 
transforming public housing, stemming the losses of privately assisted 
housing, expanding the role of secondary markets, and enlarging the 
supply of housing vouchers for hard-pressed working families.
    This decision to change rent guidelines to reflect a changing market 
complements the 110,000 new housing vouchers secured through the efforts 
of my administration working with Congress in the past 2 years. These 
housing vouchers subsidize the rents of low-income Americans, enabling 
them to move closer to job opportunities--many of which are being 
created far from where these families live. The new rent rule will give 
voucher holders more choice and mobility than they have under current 
regulations.
    I urge Congress to again join us in making make more housing 
available to hard-pressed working families, including those moving from 
welfare to work, by funding my FY 2001 budget request for 120,000 new 
housing vouchers. In addition, our proposal for an innovative $50 
million Housing Voucher Success Fund would enhance the effect of this 
fair market rent increase by helping families pay for the cost of 
transportation and other housing search services they need to access

[[Page 2052]]

a wider range of available units. These budget proposals would expand 
the supply of affordable housing for the 5.4 million very low income 
families who pay more than half their incomes for housing or live in 
severely inadequate units, including a growing number of families 
working full time.
    More than 50 years ago, the Nation committed itself to the goal of a 
``decent home and a suitable living environment for every American 
family.'' Today's action brings us a step closer toward that goal.