Alex Padilla U.S. Senator for California

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Dianne Feinstein (both D-Calif.) today called on congressional leadership to include significant investments in affordable housing in any future budget reconciliation package.

“The lack of affordable housing is a key driver of the homelessness crisis in California and nationwide, largely resulting from the high cost of construction and slow pace of building new affordable housing units. That is why we worked to make sure that the House-passed “Build Back Better Act” included much-needed investments in addressing these challenges,” the senators wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Senators Padilla and Feinstein requested that the following investments be included in any revised version of the Build Back Better Act:

• $25 billion for affordable and accessible housing production, including $15 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund, of which more than $2.6 billion would go to California.
• An expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which could help California produce more than 136,000 new affordable housing units; 203,000 jobs; $22 billion in business income; and $7 billion in tax revenue.

• $25 billion for housing vouchers, which would house an estimated 107,000 low-income Californians, including 36,000 children. 

• $65 billion for public housing repairs, which could benefit 27,000 California households.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Leader Schumer and Speaker Pelosi:

We write to thank you for your commitment to ending the homelessness and housing crises and to urge you to maintain robust housing investments in any reconciliation legislation.  Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, California already struggled with these crises, with more than 161,000 individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night. We are concerned that this number will continue to rise once emergency rental assistance funding has been obligated or expended and eviction moratoriums have been lifted.  

The lack of affordable housing is a key driver of the homelessness crisis in California and nationwide, largely resulting from the high cost of construction and slow pace of building new affordable housing units. That is why we worked to make sure that the House-passed “Build Back Better Act” included much-needed investments in addressing these challenges, including:

• $25 billion for affordable and accessible housing production, including $15 billion for the National Housing Trust Fund, of which more than $2.6 billion would go to California.
• An expansion of the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which could help California produce more than 136,000 new affordable housing units; 203,000 jobs; $22 billion in business income; and $7 billion in tax revenue.
• $25 billion for housing vouchers, which would house an estimated 107,000 low-income Californians, including 36,000 children. 
• $65 billion for public housing repairs, which could benefit 27,000 California households.

These investments will be critical to providing safe and affordable housing along with an opportunity to end intergenerational poverty. Low-income families would have the means to achieve greater opportunity and improve life outcomes for their children.  

We thank you for your consideration, and look forward to working with you and our Congressional colleagues to ensure that these vital investments are maintained in any revised version of the “Build Back Better Act.” 

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein

United States Senator 

Alex Padilla

United States Senator

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