Economic Justice Issues

Floor Speech

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Mr. GOMEZ. Madam Speaker, I thank the Congresswoman from Michigan for having this Special Order on such an important issue.

When you look at inequality in America, you have to start with housing, because inequality often is started by how much a person pays to house their family, to house their kids, to house their family members.

In order to solve for inequality, we have to solve the housing crisis. And in order to solve the housing crisis, we have to acknowledge and rectify America's shameful history of discriminatory housing practices.

Policies and practices like redlining, segregation, blockbusting, and steering that denied low-income people and communities of color access to homeownership and created the housing disparities that are still prevalent today.

In America, homeownership is how we build wealth, and it determines your family's likelihood of success.

In America, whether you rent or you own, where you live determines where your kids go to school.

In America, it often determines how far you commute to work.

In America, it often determines how far you are from a grocery store and healthy options for food for your family. It also determines what public services are available to you.

But, unfortunately, many low-income individuals and people of color have been denied this opportunity.

We still have an opportunity to make amends and rectify the inequalities that have persisted in low-income neighborhoods and communities of color.

The Tax Code is one of the most powerful tools we have. That is why I reintroduced the Rent Relief Act.

This bill aims to reduce the rent burden by creating a new refundable tax credit for families that are paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent and utilities because no family should be forced to choose between paying rent and meeting their basic needs. This would put more money in the pockets of families at a time when wages have remained stagnant and housing costs have increased.

This bill has the potential to transform lives, provide millions of the lowest income people with a breadth of opportunities, and provide opportunities to climb the economic ladder by redistributing the benefits of homeownership to the lowest income earners.

Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this important piece of legislation.

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