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Our city is facing a housing crisis. Corporate landlords continue to jack up rents while raking in massive profits. The average American is now rent-burdened, spending more than a third of their income on rent. At the same time, the median home price is now around $1 million in Los Angeles. Increasingly, Americans believe homeownership is becoming an unrealistic milestone. The price of housing is far outgrowing wages and inflation. And new high-quality, affordable housing units are not being built fast enough. I am laser-focused on addressing our housing crisis in LA. As the Founder and Chair of the Congressional Renters Caucus in Congress, I am working to increase federal rental assistance, expand the supply of affordable housing, and remove barriers to finding and keeping affordable homes. Our Caucus has advanced the first-ever Renters Agenda, a list of housing bills we are fighting for that would make a real, immediate change for renters nationwide. I am proud to be one of the primary authors of the Rent Relief Act. This bill creates a refundable tax credit for families who earn up to $100,000 a year and spend 30 percent or more of their income on rent and utilities. This monthly benefit would help families in high-cost cities like Los Angeles and assist those living in government-subsidized housing. I am a proud cosponsor of the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act, which would overhaul the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to produce more affordable housing for the 21st century. This package includes my Affordable Housing Equity Act, which would specifically boost resources towards buildings that set aside units for extremely low-income individuals who are below the federal poverty line or below 30% of the area median income. I am also the author of the Affordable Homeownership Opportunity Act, which would give first-time homebuyers between $25,000 and $50,000 towards a downpayment and help incentivize developers to build more reasonably sized and priced starter homes instead of unaffordable McMansions. I've also worked to develop the first federal tax incentive for converting empty commercial buildings and office spaces to affordable new housing. In contrast, Trump has tried to freeze funding and dismantle housing affordability programs, endangering millions of Americans' ability to pay rent and making homeownership more out of reach for young families and renters. He's blocking efforts to build more affordable housing, driving up rents in cities like Los Angeles. I will continue to oppose the Trump administration and advocate for policies to rein in corporate landlords, expand affordable housing, and give renters and first-time homebuyers a fair shot. |
