Sign the petition to Congress: Repeal the Faircloth Amendment and invest in public housing.
The United States housing crisis is dire, and public housing remains one of the only tangible options preventing children and families from experiencing homelessness. But for too many, public housing remains increasingly inaccessible. The U.S. has the Faircloth Amendment to thank for that.
Passed in 1998 under a GOP-controlled Congress, the Faircloth Amendment prohibits any net increase in public-housing units, maintaining public housing units at 1999 levels and effectively preventing housing authorities from ever maintaining more public housing than they did then. Since the 1990s, some 250,000 public housing units have been demolished. Many major cities, including Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, have chosen to eradicate much of their public housing stock to stay within the limitation of Faircloth, with some cities even providing far less than the number of units Faircloth allows.
The Faircloth Amendment is the result of the villainization of low-income communities and welfare recipients. Those pushing Faircloth believed those who would need public housing were dependent on the government or abused taxpayer money.
But today, affordable housing continues to be increasingly out of reach for middle to low-income Americans. There is currently no locality in the country where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment priced at what the Department of Housing and Urban Development defines as “fair market rent.” Between the lack of affordable housing, the surge in communities experiencing homelessness, and the recent trend of local governments making moves to criminalize homelessness, Congress must act.
Repealing Faircloth and investing federal funding into public housing will go a long way in addressing America’s homelessness crisis, ensuring safe and affordable housing for children and families, and helping America stay afloat during a deadly pandemic and economic hardships caused by record-breaking inflation.
Sign if you agree: Everyone deserves access to affordable housing.
Passed in 1998 under a GOP-controlled Congress, the Faircloth Amendment prohibits any net increase in public-housing units, maintaining public housing units at 1999 levels and effectively preventing housing authorities from ever maintaining more public housing than they did then. Since the 1990s, some 250,000 public housing units have been demolished. Many major cities, including Chicago, Atlanta, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, have chosen to eradicate much of their public housing stock to stay within the limitation of Faircloth, with some cities even providing far less than the number of units Faircloth allows.
The Faircloth Amendment is the result of the villainization of low-income communities and welfare recipients. Those pushing Faircloth believed those who would need public housing were dependent on the government or abused taxpayer money.
But today, affordable housing continues to be increasingly out of reach for middle to low-income Americans. There is currently no locality in the country where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment priced at what the Department of Housing and Urban Development defines as “fair market rent.” Between the lack of affordable housing, the surge in communities experiencing homelessness, and the recent trend of local governments making moves to criminalize homelessness, Congress must act.
Repealing Faircloth and investing federal funding into public housing will go a long way in addressing America’s homelessness crisis, ensuring safe and affordable housing for children and families, and helping America stay afloat during a deadly pandemic and economic hardships caused by record-breaking inflation.
Sign if you agree: Everyone deserves access to affordable housing.
