BRUNSWICK, ME – As Maine and many other states across the U.S. confront increasing challenges in housing affordability during the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine) joined 34 of his Senate colleagues in urging that comprehensive housing investments stay in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan. The Senators’ letter to Congressional leadership and the President seeks comprehensive investments to expand affordable rental housing and help families access homeownership. The Senators also noted that housing is the most expensive item in most families’ budget, and that more than 10 million families spend more than half their income on housing each month.

“The Build Back Better plan is a rare opportunity to deliver critical investments that we have failed to make for far too long,” Senator King and his colleagues wrote in a letter to President Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. “Housing challenges are different in every community, and we need different tools to address the growing problems they face. But with comprehensive investments, we can create, preserve, and improve millions of homes so that we bring down the cost of housing and improve its condition. And an investment in safe, affordable housing is central to the success of proposed investments in education, health, and our local economies. At the same time, investments in sustainable, energy-efficient housing can lower families’ bills, make our homes and communities more resilient to climate-driven disasters, and reduce our impact on the planet—all while creating good paying jobs.” 

Senator King has consistently worked to improve affordable housing for Maine and across the country. Earlier this year, he introduced a bipartisan bill to establish a housing affordability task force, and urged support for affordable housing funding. In the American Rescue Plan, which passed 50-49 with Senator King’s vote, Maine received $152 million for emergency rental assistance.   

The full text of the letter can be found here and follows below:

Dear Mr. President, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Schumer:  

We write to express the urgent need to invest in housing within legislation to enact President Biden’s Build Back Better plan.  

Housing is the most expensive part of most families’ budget. Nearly a quarter of renters – 10.5 million families – spend more than half their income on housing each month, and too many families who want to own their own home are locked out of the market. Nearly 19 million people live in a food desert, and 35 million homes have at least one health or safety hazard, including more than 4 million homes with young children that have lead paint hazards. Others require renovation to help an elderly family member or a person with a disability to remain in their home. And still more families do not have adequate housing at all. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic began, more than 580,000 people, including children and seniors, had no safe place to stay on any given night, and more than 3.7 million evictions were filed during the course of a year. 

The Build Back Better plan is a rare opportunity to deliver critical investments that we have failed to make for far too long. Housing challenges are different in every community, and we need different tools to address the growing problems they face. But with comprehensive investments, we can create, preserve, and improve millions of homes so that we bring down the cost of housing and improve its condition. And an investment in safe, affordable housing is central to the success of proposed investments in education, health, and our local economies. At the same time, investments in sustainable, energy-efficient housing can lower families’ bills, make our homes and communities more resilient to climate-driven disasters, and reduce our impact on the planet – all while creating good paying jobs.   

Last month, the House Financial Services Committee advanced legislation to provide investments to expand affordable rental housing, help families access homeownership, remove lead paint and other health hazards from homes, repair public and assisted rural housing, address climate change, and invest in neighborhoods. Build Back Better legislation must include these kinds of comprehensive investments in rental housing, affordable homeownership, and community needs in urban, rural, and Tribal areas.  

To invest in American families, we must invest in the homes and the communities where those families live. As we work to create a Build Back Better package, we must make investments in housing opportunity a central pillar of the plan because, as Evicted author Matthew Desmond wrote last week, “the success of all other opportunity-expanding initiatives depends on it.” 

The COVID-19 crisis revealed the depth of our country’s affordable housing crisis at the same time that it revealed how important our homes are to our health, our well-being, and our lives. We must take this opportunity to build back better by addressing housing needs in communities across the nation.