Kendrick Meek: “despite the efforts of my Chairman, who did the level best he could with the subcommittee funding allocation that was…”

“despite the efforts of my Chairman, who did the level best he could with the subcommittee funding allocation that was given to him, there are numerous funding problems in this bill. But I rise to express my concerns in particular about the lack of funding to help the poorest of the poor obtain decent housing. We are living in the period of the greatest economic prosperity in our nation's history. But even this economic boom has created a housing crisis for many Americans. In its State of the Cities Report, HUD reported that serious housing problems are increasing at almost twice the rate of population growth. These are the people who pay more than a quarter of their incomes for housing, and the people who have no choice but to live in unsafe or substandard housing. There are over 5 million families who pay more than 50%--half their income--on housing. This number is the highest in the nation's history, and unfortunately, the number continues to grow. Worst-case housing needs have been three times as high for families with full-time wage earners than for other families, and particularly high for minority families. Housing rental assistance is an important solution to the housing affordability problem. HUD's incremental vouchers help families to find homes--families that are currently homeless, living in substandard housing or paying more than half of their income in rent. Vouchers work: the average waiting period for a Section 8 voucher is about two years.”