Urgent action is needed to extend the federal eviction moratorium! The House of Representatives will vote any day on legislation to extend the federal eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) which is set to expire August 1. It is critical that our Congressmembers hear from us how vital this protection is to the 6.5 million renter households who are currently behind on their rent due to the economic burden of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) introduced two new bills last week to end homelessness and invest in housing. As Congress continues to debate a national infrastructure package that could pass this summer, the support for these two bills will help drive deeper affordable housing investments in that package. It is critical that our Members of Congress hear directly from you about the need for the robust investments and protections in these two bills:

The Housing is Infrastructure Act (H.R. 4497) would provide $320 billion for critical public housing repairs, new affordable housing construction, and rental assistance. This landscape-shifting legislation ensures fair and equitable development while addressing our biggest infrastructure issues, including strategies to ensure sustainable and environmentally resilient housing. Read more about the bill here.

Alongside these long-needed investments in our country’s housing infrastructure, the Ending Homelessness Act (H.R. 4496) would establish a universal rental assistance voucher program, provide an additional $10.5 billion to build affordable housing for the most vulnerable members of our communities, ban source of income discrimination (when landlords refuse to rent to someone relying on government assistance or housing vouchers to pay the rent), and reduce segregation by establishing voucher payment standards based on “Small Area Fair Market Rents” (SAFMRs) to make more expensive communities accessible to households using rental vouchers. You can learn more about the bill here.

(Thank you to our partners at the WA Low Income Housing Alliance for this text.)