Issue Position: Housing Affordability

Issue Position

Ensuring that everyone has access to affordable housing is critical to ensuring the strength of our economy and the social fabric of our nation, and for too long Washington has ignored the growing housing crisis. Colorado, along with the rest of the nation, is facing an affordable housing crisis, and I will make increasing the supply of affordable housing one of my primary goals in Congress.

No one should be forced to choose between a roof over their heads, food on the table, medical care, or an education. We need our teachers, police, firefighters, health care workers, and other first responders to live in the communities they serve so that they are vested in the long-term outcomes of the cities in which they work and live. Housing prices and rents have risen too high and too quickly for most working families to afford a decent place to live.

Colorado has only 27 available affordable housing units for every 100 eligible renters. More than 290,000 households in Colorado are severely burdened by housing costs, spending more than 50% of their income for a roof over their heads, leaving little left over for other basic needs. We need to leverage government resources in partnership with private sector activity to create new affordable housing based on a multi-pronged approach that supports both for sale and rental housing.

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