Issue Position: Ensuring Rhode Island Families Have Safe and Affordable Housing

Issue Position

Issue Position: Ensuring Rhode Island Families Have Safe and Affordable Housing

Ensuring Rhode Island Families Have Safe and Affordable Housing
In June of 2008 the New York Times noted: "Mr. Reed has had a passion for housing issues throughout his career. Beginning in the early 1980s when, as a young lawyer, he did pro bono work for Amos House, a Providence soup kitchen and social service agency, and continuing after his election to the Rhode Island Assembly, the House and finally the Senate."

Reed has championed affordable housing through his efforts to successfully preserve the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), a program that has helped construct affordable housing for over 3.5 million Americans.

Recently, he co-authored legislation to create a new affordable housing trust fund, improve consumer disclosures on mortgages, and address the needs of middle-class families who are struggling with the fallout from the housing crisis.

Reed also earned accolades for increasing funding to remove lead based paint from homes, educate families about the dangers of lead poisoning, and train inspectors and workers to identify lead contamination in housing. As a result of Reed's efforts, Rhode Island has received over $47.2 million in federal lead abatement funding, the most per capita of any state in the nation.

Source