Special to the Independent
Mayor Carlo DeMaria has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s bill that would build approximately three million new housing units across the country.
Warren held a press conference Friday announcing the reintroduction of the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act (AHEM).
At the press conference, Warren spoke about the country’s housing crisis and the need for bold investments in housing.
The bill would build around three million new housing units and level the playing field so working families can find a decent place to live at a decent price, bringing down rents for lower-income and middle-class families by 10 percent. Among other provisions, AHEM would invest more than $500 billion in construction and rehabilitation, create incentives for the elimination of unnecessary land-use restrictions, set up a down payment assistance program for first-time, first-generation homebuyers, and limit the role of private equity in the housing market.
In supporting Warren’s legislation, DeMaria said, “Housing is a crisis for all but the wealthiest of Americans. Families who have housing are struggling to keep up with the costs of holding on to it and the prospect of being able to afford rental housing or homeownership is out of reach for far too many of us, which is why I support Senator Warren refiling this legislation. In Everett, even the current programs that are meant to be ‘affordable’ are too expensive for our residents who live on lower incomes, so we need legislation like this to help bring down the costs for renters and buyers and to increase the availability of safe and appropriate options for all our residents.”
“Housing is a crisis for all but the wealthiest of Americans. Families who have housing are struggling to keep up with the costs of holding on to it and the prospect of being able to afford rental housing or homeownership is out of reach for far too many of us, which is why I support Senator Warren refiling this legislation,” said Mayor DeMaria. “In Everett, even the current programs that are meant to be ‘affordable’ are too expensive for our residents who live on lower incomes, so we need legislation like this to help bring down the costs for renters and buyers and to increase the availability of safe and appropriate options for all our residents.”