A Strong Foundation: How Housing is the Key to Building Back a Better America (EventID=408540)

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Connect with the House Financial Services Committee Get the latest news: https://financialservices.house.gov/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HouseFinancialCmte Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSCDems ___________________________________ On Thursday, October 21, 2021, at 10:00 a.m. (ET) full Committee Chairwoman Waters and Ranking Member McHenry will host a virtual hearing entitled, “A Strong Foundation: How Housing is the Key to Building Back a Better America." - - - - - - - - Witnesses for this one-panel hearing will be: Panel 1: • John Harrison, Jr., Formerly Experienced Homelessness and Program Coordinator, Nick's Place • Michael Edmonds, Resident, Tucson House, Tucson Public Housing Authority Renter struggling with housing costs • Symone Crawford, First-Generation Homeowner, Director of STASH and Homeownership Operations & Incoming Executive Director, Massachusetts Affordable Housing Alliance Panel 2: • Raj Chetty, William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics, Harvard University • Carlos del Rio, MD, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Emory University School of Medicine • Lisa Rice, President and CEO, National Fair Housing Alliance • Khalil Shahyd, Senior Policy Advisor, Equity Environment and Just Communities, Healthy People & Thriving Communities Program, Natural Resources Defense Council • Matthew D. Dickerson, Director, Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, The Heritage Foundation Introduction Evidence-based research has demonstrated that having a safe, decent, and affordable home is foundational to improving societal and life outcomes for families and individuals. When families and individuals are able to secure stable and affordable housing, they are better able to find and keep employment, children are better able to thrive and do well in school, seniors are better able to age in place, and people with disabilities are better able to maintain their health and live independently. Having an affordable home also allows families to achieve greater economic mobility, build wealth, and enter the middle class. Despite this large and growing body of research, federal investments in affordable housing have consistently failed to meet the needs of the country, leading to a severe affordable housing crisis that has resulted in over 580,000 people experiencing homelessness on any given night, including more than 106,000 children,4 more than 20 million renter households paying unaffordable rents,5 and millions of mortgage-ready individuals being locked out of homeownership opportunities, including at least 20 million millennials.6 The White House recently found that rising home prices, including rental costs, contribute to overall inflation rates, exacerbating pressures on the cost of living for every U.S. household. Households across the income spectrum and in every community—including urban, suburban, and rural— have been impacted by the affordable housing crisis. The middle class, once thought to be insulated from housing insecurity, is increasingly feeling the effects of the affordable housing crisis and is being priced out of once-affordable housing markets due to skyrocketing housing costs. These trends only stand to worsen as the effects of climate change progress and communities are uprooted due to more frequent disasters, highlighting the importance of housing and community development investments as centerpieces of mitigation and resilience. Housing and Racial Justice Historically, housing and neighborhood disinvestment have been used as tools to disenfranchise people of color from the socioeconomically stabilizing benefits of housing. Today, people and communities of color disproportionately bear the brunt of the homelessness and housing affordability crises due to the unresolved inequities created by racist and discriminatory housing policies, such as redlining. Currently, 62% of people experiencing homelessness are Black and Latinx, despite representing less than 32% of the total U.S. population.10 Meanwhile, 58% of Black households and 53% of Latinx households rent compared to 31% of White households, and are also more likely to be severely cost-burdened renters.11 This dynamic significantly affects the ability of people of color to build their savings, weather economic downturns or other unforeseen financial crises, maintain stable housing, and enter homeownership. Indeed, 76% of White households own their home compared to just 47% of Black households and 48-49% of Latinx households. As a result, the U.S. faces mutually reinforcing racial homeownership and wealth gaps that have severely limited the growth of the middle class over the years. Today, owning a home continues to define the American dream for many and represents the single greatest driver of wealth for most families across the country. As of 2019... Hearing page: https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=408540