Emanuel Cleaver: “This piece of legislation is particularly significant to me. I lived in public housing for 5 years. I saw what the…”

“This piece of legislation is particularly significant to me. I lived in public housing for 5 years. I saw what the possibilities were there. I saw people who did not make it, and I saw people who did made it. The one thing that I found difficult to accept was the fact that if you lived in public housing, almost every rule made was designed, unintentionally, to keep you in public housing. My father didn't tell the truth about the fact that he was cleaning up at an office building on Saturday earning some additional money and then serving at parties on the weekends. He had to pretend that that didn't happen because he was saving money trying to get our family in our own home. And it worked. He is watching C-SPAN right now, hearing his son talk about what could have happened. The essence of this bill was passed as a part of the appropriations package that was signed into law earlier this year. It promotes housing mobility for individuals who rely on housing vouchers. Under this bill, the Department of Housing and Urban Development would establish a demonstration program to allow interested public housing agencies to form consortia to enhance mobility and provide residents with increased opportunity to move to higher-income communities. There is something contagious about working around only poor people.…”