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A Million New Homes!??!

Truth vs. lies in the Housing Crisis

By James Tracy

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) recently released a report entitled "Waiting In Vain: America's Housing Crisis." It "revealed" what most U.S. renters, especially the working poor, could have told them for free: our housing crisis is nationwide, and housing affordable to low-income people nearly extinct.

Never mind that the crisis is hardly accidental. Many local and state governments have eliminated or weakened rent control. Public housing demolitions have eliminated over 23,000 housing units nationally. The expiration of HUD Section 8 contracts threatens 2.1 million homes. Lack of a housing safety net for those most in need pushes everyone's rents up by eliminating supply and increasing competition for scarce resources. In cities flooded with the "dot.com" money these decisions spell eviction.

Hoping to counteract nearly a decade of cuts in U.S. housing spending, the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) has proposed an innovative solution - the Community Housing Investment Trust (CHIT). This legislation will create and subsidize one million units of housing that is affordable to families and individuals whose annual incomes are less than $10,700 per year. Current federal housing programs primarily aid households whose incomes are between $20,000 to $60,000 per year.

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Nationally, there are at least 11.3 million households with incomes of less than $10,000. Personal-based Section 8 vouchers are useless in every area where demand for housing is high and vacancy rates are low. Landlords usually take the opportunity to rent to higher-income, non-subsidized tenants.

This federal resource pool allows local communities to develop, acquire, rehabilitate or subsidize housing units. This means that cities can meet the specific needs of their area CHIT would be funded from the interest from existing federal bonds, meaning that no one's taxes will be increased automatically. Individual taxpayers would be able to make contributions to CHIT by checking off a box on their income taxes. The legislation also provides for matching funds from private institutions maximizing the $50 billion federal contribution.

Housing shortages are nothing new in San Francisco, or in any market economy. At the end of World War II, returning service people faced a severe housing crisis that even the New Deal had failed to address completely. The International Longshoreman and Warehouse Union led actions - including office occupations and work stoppages - to force federal representatives to build new affordable housing. Their accomplishments include many of the same housing programs that are being dismantled by Democrats and Republicans today.

This campaign is an important step in the fight for housing and other crucial social needs. Although homelessness is a complicated problem, its leading remedy should be embarrassingly simple: more housing. New housing can also create jobs and further social stability.

To endorse the Community Housing Investment Trust and get active in the campaign please contact James Tracy, Coalition on Homelessness Housing Workgroup (415) 346-3740.

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