Communities Resists Travels to Capitol Hill in Support of the Homes Act

Communities Resists Travels to Capitol Hill in Support of the Homes Act
The Homes Act, sponsored by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Tina Smith would would bring over a million affordable housing units across the country

On Wednesday, September 18, Communities Resist Executive Director Nick E. Smith traveled to Capitol Hill in support of the Homes Act. This newly introduced legislation is sponsored by Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN).

The Homes Act would create a national Housing Development Authority to function as a public bank and developer that will build millions of permanently affordable homes, stabilize rents and provide more homeownership opportunities across the country, including in rural, urban, and tribal communities. Additionally, this bill would help all Americans, especially low-income and extremely low-income households, to find a safe and affordable place to live, allowing them to build the life they want for themselves and their loved ones.

“Our country is in its worst housing crisis in decades,” said Communities Resist Executive Director Nick E. Smith. “We especially see it here in New York every single day. Skyrocketing rents, low housing stock, and lack of tenant protections, families are being priced out of the neighborhoods they want to live in. The Homes Act is a transformative piece of legislation that would greatly benefit the working class by building over a million affordable homes and give more Americans, including New Yorkers, the opportunity to pursue their dreams of raising a family in a community they want to call home. I thank Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Smith for introducing this bill and addressing one of our most pressing issues – the right to quality, affordable housing.”

The Homes Act would:

• Establish a national Housing Development Authority to acquire and develop real estate to create and maintain a stock of permanent, sustainable, affordable housing, including single- and multi-family housing, with robust tenant protections.

• Empower local communities to address their specific housing needs by financing real estate acquisition or conveying property to public housing authorities, mission-driven nonprofits, tenant- or resident-owned cooperatives, state or local governments, and community land trusts.

• Require the housing development authority to maintain portfolio-wide affordability by setting aside 40% of units for extremely-low income households and 30% of units for low-income households.

• Cap rents for units financed under the Act at 25% of a household’s adjusted gross income with reasonable limits on subsequent rent increases.

• Support homeownership by allowing residents to purchase limited equity in properties and authorizing the Housing Development Authority to provide relief to mortgage borrowers at risk of foreclosure due to market instability or economic distress.

• Provide strong labor protections for the jobs created in building and maintaining the new units.

• Provide tenants with opportunities to come together to purchase their buildings prior to large, for-profit developers buying them.

• Provide funding to rehabilitate and address the backlog of necessary improvements for public housing and repeal the Faircloth Amendment to allow new public housing.

• Authorize $30 billion in annual appropriations, combined with a revolving loan fund to recoup and reinvest funds back into housing. Annual appropriations include a 5% minimum set aside for Tribal communities and a 10% minimum set aside for rural communities.

About Communities Resist

Communities Resist (“CoRe”) is a community-based housing legal services and advocacy organization established and led by people of color to empower, educate and represent low-income communities and community coalitions preventing gentrification and displacement. Founded in 2019, CoRe has racked up several impressive wins, stopping nearly 1,000 evictions, filing 4,000+ affirmative litigation cases, engaging more than 8,000 New Yorkers at housing rights workshops and recovering settlements of all sizes for tenants across New York City.

“After years of feeling powerless against our abusive landlord who wasn’t providing heat and hot water nor repairing my apartments, my neighbors and I had no other choice than to reach out for help. With the help of our attorney from Communities Resist we were able to organize a Tenant Association and fight back against the abusive landlord. We finally won,” said Ramona Blash of 316 Suydam St. Tenant Association.

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