On March 18, the campaign sent a letter to Congress urging them to include the Eviction Crisis Act and the Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act in any bipartisan housing packages that moves forward in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Signatories included 27 leading national organizations from an array of sectors, including Children’s HealthWatch, Church World Service, Food Research & Action Center, Healthcare Anchor Network, Justice in Aging, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, National Women’s Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and more. Both bills are top priorities for the campaign and the enactment of each would represent major steps forward in tackling the nation’s housing crisis.
- The Eviction Crisis Act builds on the successes and lessons learned from the more than 500 Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs created during the pandemic that helped millions of households avoid eviction and homelessness. The bill would create ongoing funding for proven interventions to help low-income households facing housing instability due to an unexpected economic shock. If enacted, the Eviction Crisis Act would create a critical tool to help low-income households forced to live on the edge of what they can afford.
- The Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act would provide housing vouchers to 250,000 families with young children, along with mobility counseling, to help families with low-incomes access communities of their choice. Research shows that when children in families with low-incomes grow up in well-resourced neighborhoods with low poverty and crime, quality schools, and other resources they are significantly more likely to attend college and to earn more as adults over the course of their lifetimes. Expanding housing voucher access is critical to addressing our nation’s housing crisis, as only 1 in 4 households eligible for rental assistance currently receive it.
Read the campaign’s letter to Congressional Leadership below:
OSAH Sign On Letter Bipartisan Bills v2To download, click here.