WASHINGTON – In last year’s election campaign, President Donald Trump warned that Joe Biden “would abolish the suburbs”, forcing them to change housing regulations. Instead, as part of his $ 2 trillion “American Employment Plan”, President Biden is offering money for them to open their gates voluntarily.
“It’s purely carrot, no punishment,” said a White House official who worked on the policy.
More broadly, Biden’s proposal would inject $ 213 billion – more than three times the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s annual budget of about $ 60 billion – into the development, maintenance and refurbishment of accessible units over the next few years. eight years, including public and private projects for renting lower residences.
Subsidies are necessary, Democrats say, because the demand for cheap housing far outweighs the available stock, federal rental assistance coffers support only about a quarter of the eligible population, and it is currently unprofitable for developers to build cost units. lower.
“We are talking about expansions in the housing supply that go beyond incremental increases,” said Representative David Price, DN.C., who represents the North Carolina Research Triangle area and is chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that oversees the HUD.
In 2018, more than a quarter of renters spent most of their rent on rent, according to a Harvard study. That was before the pandemic put additional financial pressure on millions of Americans.
For generations, communities across the country have implemented policies that limit the availability of affordable housing in middle and upper class neighborhoods. These decisions have prevented millions of poorer Americans from living close to work, sending their children to high-performing schools and benefiting from government services. The distorting effects of this exclusion were felt disproportionately by people of color.
Trump’s accusation of “abolishing the suburbs” came from an Obama-era regulation that tried to push localities by threatening to take away existing federal dollar flows if they did not move to remedy the racial effects of their zoning policies.
But the housing component of Biden’s gigantic transportation-infrastructure-climate change-housing-and-care-for-the-elderly proposal foresees communities competing for new money resources that can be used to finance transportation and other elements to support growth.
The concept has bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Senator Rob Portman, R-Ohio, and Deputy Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., Joined the Democrats Sens. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Tim Kaine of Virginia, along with representatives Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Del. And Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, in drafting legislation last month that would create a $ 300 million a year grant fund for cities, towns and counties, removing regulatory zoning and land use barriers for building buildings. popular housing.
In context, this is a small part of Biden’s housing plan – but with an enormous political burden, as evidenced by Trump’s attention to the issue during the presidential campaign. The use of Biden incentives – allowing communities to choose – could reduce friction because jurisdictions may choose not to compete for money.
Republicans vehemently opposed the general price of Biden’s “American Employment Plan”, its incorporation of tax increases on wealthy companies and families, and its comprehensive approach to legislating.
“This proposal appears to use ‘infrastructure’ as a Trojan horse for the largest set of tax increases in a generation,” said Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., In a statement this week. “These dramatic tax increases would kill jobs and keep wages low at the worst possible time, as Americans try to get out of the pandemic.”
McConnell said his conference was unified in opposition to Biden’s plan, and Democrats say they hope to have to use the obstruction-proof reconciliation process to get through the Senate. This would require Congress to pass a new budget resolution and for Democrats to keep all 50 senators on the board. In a worrying signal for Democrats, Senator Joe Manchin, DW.Va., indicated that he wants the government and Democratic leaders in Congress to start working with Republicans on major legislation.
The details of Biden’s proposal, including exactly how much money would go to several new and existing housing programs, have not been fully worked out. The White House is largely supporting Congress to write the legislative text and distribute money and tax incentives, but Biden specifically asked for $ 40 billion to rebuild public housing.
Price saw this challenge in his own district, despite being the wealthiest in the state. In January 2020, carbon monoxide began to leak into the apartments of the 68-year-old McDougald Terrace public housing complex in Durham, forcing 325 families to leave their homes and demanding $ 9 million in repairs.
“We are relatively healthy economically, but we have disparities,” said Price. The displacement of families that had to move from McDougald Terrace at any time is “the tip of the iceberg,” he added. “The stock of public housing in this country … is really a shame.”
For Deputy Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., The scarcity of affordable housing is a personal matter.
Cleaver, who chairs the Financial Services subcommittee that oversees housing programs, said he moved into public housing after his family lived in a two-room shack with no indoor plumbing or running water for the first seven years of his life.
“This is not something I read or an idea I heard from someone else,” said Cleaver, who discussed popular housing with Biden during the presidential campaign.
“If you come to Kansas City now, I could show you a thousand vacant lots – and that’s how it is in cities across the country,” said Cleaver. “I want to provide funding and incentives to build thousands of affordable homes in these areas, and I think the American employment plan is a good start in making this possible.”