On the recordMay 9, 1996
Twenty-seven years ago as a Republican US senator from Massachusetts, I introduced the ``Brooke Amendment'' to keep rents affordable for low-income families, elders, veterans and disabled people living in public housing. Then, as now, public housing authorities faced increasing operating expenses and, in order to cover costs, were charging tenants higher and higher rents--in some cases upwards of 50 percent of their meager incomes. Congress had two choices: fill the operating-cost gap or turn people out of their homes. We voted to fill the gap and passed legislation, signed into law by President Nixon in 1969, to cap rent at 25 percent of income. In 1981, this cap was raised to 30 percent.
Source
govinfo.gov
