Along with “All babies should eat” and “puppies and kittens are cute” there is another safe statement to make: everyone should have a place to live. Several states and the Biden Administration are stepping up to help make that a reality.
Here’s Five Fast Facts About Rental Assistance:
- 🏡 Tentative Tenants - Basic stats tell us that around 35% of the US population, or 44 million households, live in rental housing. In 22 states and the District of Columbia, renters need to make $26 an hour to afford a two-bedroom unit. The average rent shot up 19.3% from 2019 to 2023.
- 🏠 Get Out - As you probably remember, the renter protections, assistance, and aid measures that were in effect during the pandemic are now gone. Researchers claim that led to about 900,000 evictions!!!
- 📜 Renter Rights - As a result, President Biden has announced the Blueprint for Renter’s Bill of Rights. It lists a variety of action items. These include things like access to safe, quality, and affordable housing, and clear and fair leases. What that actually means is TBD but it's in motion as we speak.
- 💰 Federal Funding - Now, before you start cursing at Biden, realize that much of this regulation will be directed at rent increases in properties with mortgages backed by federal money. So, it's kind of just the government regulating the money it takes from us and then sends out for housing.
- 🏚️ State Savings - The states are getting in on the act, too. For example, Maine’s 2023 budget gave its housing authority $35M to help build more affordable rental housing. The money came from a $141M budget surplus. Tennessee just got in on the act, too.
🔥Bottom line: I say this a lot: how you feel about this issue largely depends on your political alignment. Despite that, it’s still very important that everyone should have a safe and affordable place to live. These Federal and State efforts are helping make that a bit closer to reality.
What do you think of this new Bill of Rights?
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