Out of Reach
by Senator Jack Reed (D-RI)
Chairman of the Housing and Transportation Subcommittee of the
US Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban AffairsAmerica is a rich nation . . . rich in resources, talent, blessings, and promise. The hard work and ingenuity of men and women across the country has led us to take on and succeed at many monumental challenges.
However, one challenge we have yet to conquer is affordable housing. While we are the best-housed nation in the world, 15 million low income households pay too much for their housing, live in severely substandard housing, or are homeless. We have much more to do to reach our true potential as a nation. In the absence of good housing, a family’s ability to do all the other things society expects of it – parenting, employment, education – is impaired.
Each year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reminds us how stark the housing crisis is and this year’s report is no exception. Out of Reach 2001 shows that the gap between incomes and housing costs has grown in every state.
The number of states where people need an income equivalent to at least two full-time minimum wage jobs to afford modest rental housing has increased from 27 to 33 in the last year. In my state of Rhode Island, the wage to afford the Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom home is $12.87 an hour. Nowhere in the country does the minimum wage work of one person come close to paying the rent.
It would seem self-evident that if one goes to work every day and collects a regular paycheck, that should be enough to secure a reasonable place to live and take care of one’s family. Fairness is a core American value that is violated when work does not pay enough to survive. Today’s affordable housing crisis is the result of market failure and federal government disinvestment in housing assistance for low income families.
As the new Chairman of the Housing and Transportation Subcommittee of the Senate Banking Committee, I am certain that the lessons from Out of Reach 2001 will play a role in the Subcommittee’s work. The National Low Income Housing Coalition is to be commended for publishing Out of Reach and keeping the affordable housing crisis in the public eye. I intend to call upon my colleagues in the Senate to take a serious look at the shortcomings of federal housing policy and to work with me to develop sound solutions to the affordable housing crisis.
Back to Out of Reach Table of Contents.
