Larsen votes to make housing more affordable in Northwest Washington

||| FROM THE OFFICE OF U.S. REP. RICK LARSEN |||

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Yesterday, U.S. Representative Rick Larsen (WA-02) voted for comprehensive, bipartisan legislation to make housing more affordable in Northwest Washington and across the United States (the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act).

“Too many families in Northwest Washington struggle to afford skyrocketing rent and don’t know if they will ever be able to own a home of their own,” said Rep. Larsen. “The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act will bring down housing costs by making it easier to build new homes and by protecting homeowners from private equity homebuyers and renters from corporate landlords. While this bill is not a be-all-and-end-all fix, it achieves real progress toward making homeownership and renting affordable for working families.”

“Now, President Trump is refusing to sign this bipartisan legislation to lower your costs until Congress passes legislation to make it harder for women to vote,” Rep. Larsen continued. “The President should be helping Americans struggling with sky-high costs, not making it harder for Americans to vote him out of office. I will keep fighting to bring down the cost of housing, gas, groceries, health care and more.”

The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act includes provisions to:

• Kickstart the construction of new homes by:
  • helping local governments convert vacant commercial or industrial buildings into affordable housing units;
  • lowering barriers in the way of developing manufactured, modular housing, and accessory dwelling units (ADUs);
  • removing restrictions in the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to allow cities and local governments, for the first time, to fund new affordable housing construction; and
  • reauthorizing and expanding the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, the largest federal block grant designed exclusively to create and preserve affordable housing for low-income households.

• Prohibit large institutional investors that own more than 350 single-family homes from purchasing additional single-family homes;
• Create a renter complaint hotline and resource center for reporting, monitoring and resolving renter disputes with large institutional investor landlords;
• Help more veterans access affordable housing by:
  • requiring Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loan applications to inform veterans of their home loan benefits offered through the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA);
  • excluding veterans’ disability compensation from counting against HUD-VASH benefits; and
  • requiring Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loan applications to display VA loan options alongside conventional and FHA loans to help veterans better compare loan costs.

• Require large institutional landlords to report to the Department of Housing and Urban Development annually about renter disputes and the number and location of their properties; and
• Support community financial institutions that provide critical financing to homebuyers and housing developers by:
  • streamlining the process of forming new community banks and credit unions in rural and underserved areas; and
  • lowering funding costs and enhancing lending capacity at eligible community banks with less than $10 billion in assets by allowing them to reclassify certain deposits.

The House of Representatives passed the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act on a 358-32 vote, and the bill now goes to the President’s desk.

Rep. Larsen voted for prior versions of the bill in May and February. He has been calling attention to the skyrocketing prices of gas, groceries, health care and housing for months.