On Friday, House Financial Services Committee Chair Rep. Maxine Waters, along with New York City Congressman Rep. Ritchie Torres and Rep Emanual Cleaver, introduced The Ending Homelessness Act of 2021, to phase in universal rental assistance, one of NYHC’s top policy priorities.
If passed, this legislation would significantly reduce homelessness and housing poverty in America by transforming the Housing Choice Voucher program into a federal entitlement, so that every household who qualifies for assistance would receive it. This bill makes good on President Biden’s campaign promise of expanding Section 8 to all eligible households.
While this bill faces difficult prospects of advancing in both houses, it lays out an important framework for how to move from an underfunded discretionary program to a mandatory budget entitlement, by aiding households most in need.
The bill would have a 5-year deep poverty phase-in and become a full entitlement for all low-income Americans by 2030. During the deep poverty phase in, 403,000 NY households would be eligible, 57% of which include a person with a disability and 34% include a senior (65+). Full entitlement for all eligible low-income households could benefit up to 1.3 million NY households, 60% of which are Black or Latinx and 53% of which are headed by women.
The legislation also includes $5 billion over 5 years for the national Housing Trust Fund to address the severe shortage of affordable housing and to combat homelessness. The legislation provides $5 billion over 5 years in McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Grants to build 85,000 new permanent supportive housing units.
Read NY Daily News coverage of our analysis of the bill’s impact in New York in the NY Daily News here.
The full analysis below:
