Senate Bill to Create Federal Grant Pool for Affordable Housing

The U.S. Senate introduced federal legislation that would create multi-billion financial support for local communities to improve their housing options. 

Gary Peters, a Democratic Senator of Michigan, introduced The Restoring Communities Left Behind Act on Tuesday,  July 13. 

This legislation includes a five billion USD housing project led by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to help citizens restore properties and rebuild them into affordable houses. The program would also include training for organizing life in low-income areas and improving life in such neighborhoods.
  
Earlier this year, the House of Representatives, Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, and Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, introduced a similar bill. Among the resolution’s co-sponsors was also Congressman Fred Upton, R-St. Joseph.

To participate in the program, communities would need to pass the qualification process. Several requirements would need to be fulfilled, including possessing a significant amount of empty properties due to foreclosure, high poverty rates, low vacancy rates, and more. 

In his latest statement, Peters said that the COVID-19 pandemic revealed disparities in housing within communities with modest sources of income. Based on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau research, 11 million householders and renters were late for their monthly payments last December. 

“This pandemic has reinforced the critical need for robust federal investment in communities that have previously been left behind to help them emerge even stronger,”  [...] “This common-sense bill will provide a significant boost to the neighborhoods and areas across our state that need it most while supporting programs that provide skills training, investing in local development projects and improving access to affordable housing,” Peters said. 

The bill mentioned above would benefit communities living outside big metropolitan areas, setting aside special grants for them.

According to the latest study revealed in the National Library of Medicine, the higher risk of mental disorders among youth is connected with residential instability. 

Access to stable housing in youth is believed to be a factor in future life outcomes — a 2003 study published in the National Library of Medicine found residential instability was linked with elevated risks of depression later in life. Before buying their first property, young people should become familiar with all of the steps and expenses that purchasing a house entails.