Mike Capuano: “I find this to be unfortunate. The people who are proposing the amendment are working with us to try to come to a mutual…”

“I find this to be unfortunate. The people who are proposing the amendment are working with us to try to come to a mutual agreement, and the people who really do not do much about housing do not want us to. I want to make two points. Number one, this amendment does not do anything to take the decisions out of local control. It simply allows the director of HUD to designate some communities, only some, that are high cost areas. That is all it does. That is all it does. Nobody has to do this. If a local community does not want to do it, they do not do it. I will tell my colleagues that not more than 15 months ago I was the mayor of a city that is an entitlement community under a block grant. I did this. This is what I did.”