A report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition earlier this year details the scale of the crisis:
Only 33 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. Extremely low-income renters face a shortage in every state and major metropolitan area. Among states, the supply of affordable and available rental homes ranges from 17 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Nevada to 58 in South Dakota. In 12 of the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the country, the absolute shortage of affordable and available homes for extremely low-income renters exceeds 100,000 units.
Let’s get this point out of the way: Repealing the Faircloth Amendment alone will not end the housing crisis. A number of conditions and Reaganesque politics got us here and all need to be addressed. However, lifting the prohibition on Faircloth will help increase the country’s affordable housing stock. Coupled with zoning reform and federal housing investments, repeal offers a much needed intervention.
The Faircloth Amendment is a result of Reagan’s “welfare queen” dog whistle and the villainization of low-income communities and welfare recipients; passed as part of the late ’90s anti-welfare wave that rolled back a number of critical anti-poverty, New Deal measures. Years of intentional funding cuts to public housing led to dilapidated buildings and unsafe communities, which in turn created a low public opinion of public housing projects. Journalist Ross Barkan provides important context, writing:
The amendment was passed in 1998, when Republicans controlled Congress and President Bill Clinton had soured on public housing. Unfairly characterized as mere dens of sin and vice — and increasingly neglected as whites moved out and poorer, nonwhite residents moved in — public housing was largely viewed as a liberal failure, with Democrats and Republicans both cheering on its destruction. Instead, politicians argued that Section 8 housing vouchers were sufficient, even though landlords were able to discriminate against tenants who received such federal housing assistance.
Now, a quarter century later, there is no place in the U.S. where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment priced at what HUD defines as “fair market rent.” America.
Barkan continues, laying out how the crisis grew from there, and what need to happen to undo some of the damage:
Since the 1990s, some 250,000 public-housing units have been demolished. Many major cities, including Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia and New Orleans, have chosen to eradicate much of their public-housing stock. New York City, one of the last holdouts, is considering various privatization schemes to raise funds for its crumbling buildings. At the minimum, these units can be returned without repealing Faircloth, but to go beyond the 1990s standard — and give the nation the housing expansion it needs — the law must go.
As the housing crisis grows and more progressives are elected to Congress, attempts to repeal Faircloth have steadily become louder. House Democrats, led by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, successfully passed a repeal last year. Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar’s Homes for All Act includes repeal of Faircloth, along with a comprehensive plan to address the housing crisis. Progressive proposals like the Green New Deal also take aim at Faircloth. Unfortunately, none of the proposals made it through the Senate last session. Many advocates are eyeing a path similar to AOC’s, adding repeal as an amendment to a much larger bill, which would provide the GOP and moderate Democrats political cover.
The Biden-Harris administration has also taken aim at Faircloth, implementing a “Faircloth-to-Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD)” initiative that has already helped to increase rental housing supply for the lowest-income families, elderly, and disabled people. President Biden also prioritized housing in his most recent budget proposal, although stopping short of calling for a repeal of Faircloth altogether, connecting housing to every other aspect of life.
A lack of quality affordable housing hinders the job market and holds back economic growth by making it harder for workers to access good-paying jobs. It drives up costs for families and inflationary pressures. It also increases commutes and inefficient energy consumption, which exacerbates climate change. And a lack of affordable housing opportunities perpetuates the ongoing segregation and discrimination that our nation committed to eradicate nearly 60 years ago.
Where Congress fails, people rise. In 2020, a group of Black homeless mothers aligned with Moms 4 Housing, a housing advocacy organization based in Oakland, California, to take on a private housing investor allowing houses to sit empty while thousands remained homeless. They won: The private investment group acquiesced, selling the property to the Oakland Community Land Trust at its appraised value. Additionally, the corporation agreed to offer affordable housing organizations or the city the right of first refusal on all of their properties.
However, this massive victory came at a cost to the women, who were arrested and vilified for their efforts. If there was ample public housing for low-income families, these women would never have had to squat in an empty house. If housing prices and rents weren’t soaring, this house wouldn’t have been vacant to begin with. Faircloth has helped to create untenable conditions.
As noted by Richmond, Virginia, Mayor Levar Stoney during the winter meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, “Housing is a vaccine for poverty, and home ownership is one of the fundamental ways for families to build generational wealth.”
Congress helped to exacerbate the housing crisis. Congress can help dig us out. It’s time to authorize and fund the construction of millions of new public housing that would help us curb homelessness and make housing prices more affordable for everyone.
Sign the petition to Congress: Help curb homelessness and make public housing affordable.
