Today, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 264-148 to pass H.R. 2895, creating the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund.

The bipartisan legislation creates the first new housing production program since 1990 for households with the lowest incomes, and will allow for the acquisition, production, rehabilitation and preservation of 1.5 million housing units over the next decade.  At least 75 percent of these housing units will be targeted for extremely low-income households, whose income is less than 30 percent of the area median income.  Also in its first year, funding will specifically go towards rebuilding housing in the Gulf Coast for low-income persons. 

Improving housing policies so that every person has a safe, decent, affordable place to live is a key element in reducing the number of people in poverty.  The Trust Fund will help address an affordable housing crisis that has led millions of poor people in America to live in danger of homelessness or in severely substandard homes.  Today, nearly one in three American households spends more than 30 percent of their income on housing, and more than one in eight spend upwards of 50 percent, leaving little cash in reserve for the basic necessities of life. 

Thank you to all of you who responded to recent alerts that requested your help in contacting your U.S. Representatives to ask that they vote for passage of H.R. 2895.  The creation of National Affordable Housing Trust Fund will help remove another barrier on the road to decreasing the national poverty rate.