Senators Introduce Bipartisan Affordable Housing Task Force Bill

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), U.S. Senator Todd Young (R-IN), and a bipartisan group of their Senate colleagues recently introduced the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act, which seeks to better understand and respond to America’s housing crisis by creating a bipartisan affordable housing task force. The task force created by today’s legislation would:

• Evaluate and quantify the impact that a lack of affordable housing has on other areas of life and life outcomes for individuals living in the United States, including education, employment, income level, health, nutrition, access to transportation, and poverty level in the neighborhood in which individuals live.
• Evaluate and quantify the costs incurred by other federal, state, and local programs due to a lack of affordable housing.
• Make recommendations to Congress on how to use affordable housing to improve the effectiveness of other federal programs and improve life outcomes for individuals living in the United States.

In addition to Senator Cantwell, the legislation was introduced today by U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-IN), Angus King (I-ME), Dean Heller (R-NV), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Doug Jones (D-AL), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Chris Coons (D-DE). With regard to members of the task force, there will be 18 members of the Task Force with two co-chairs: one co-chair appointed by the Majority Leader of the Senate and the Speaker of the House and one co-chair appointed by the Minority Leader of the Senate and the Minority Leader of the House; four members appointed by each of the following: Majority Leader of the Senate, Minority Leader of the Senate, Speaker of the House, and Minority Leader of the House; and members who are academic researchers, experts in a field or policy area related to the purpose of the task force, or individuals who have experience with government programs related to the purpose.