One cause for celebration this Veterans’ Day is the impressive recent progress in reducing homelessness among veterans described in our updated paper. The number of homeless veterans has dropped by 33 percent since 2010, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)...
off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Rental Assistance Helps More Than 340,000 Veterans Afford Housing
November 10, 2014
Rental assistance helps 343,000 veterans — most of them elderly or with disabilities — afford housing, our updated paper shows (see graph). It apparently played a central role in the 33 percent decline in veterans’ homelessness since 2010, and it allows veterans to devote more of their limited resources to other basic needs,...
Using Private Investment to Preserve Public Housing
November 7, 2014
As it writes the final housing appropriations bill for fiscal year 2015, Congress should include a Senate Appropriations Committee-approved provision to expand the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD). Our new paper explains why expanding RAD makes sense, as it would help repair the nation’s public housing stock and preserve...
Rental Assistance Kept Over 3 Million People Out of Poverty Last Year, New Census Data Show
October 16, 2014
Rental assistance programs kept millions of people above the poverty line in 2013, according to CBPP’s analysis of new Census data. The findings highlight the central role that rental assistance plays in helping low-income Americans keep a roof over their heads.
Our analysis using the Census...
[Revised] Key Lawmaker’s Bill Would Raise Rents on Poor While Lowering Them for Better-Off Households
September 24, 2014
A new bill from Rep. Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), chair of the House Financial Services Committee’s Housing and Insurance Subcommittee, would raise rents on some of the nation’s poorest families. The bill apparently intends the rent increases to balance the possible cost of allowing the Department of Housing and Urban...
Ryan Backs Reform to Mortgage Interest Deduction — But Bigger Changes Needed
August 27, 2014
Endorsing House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp’s proposal to limit the mortgage interest deduction recently, Budget Chairman Paul Ryan explained that it “ought to be a middle class tax break, not something for higher-income earners.” He’s right to criticize the deduction for...
Why the Ryan Plan Should Worry Those Concerned About the Affordable Housing Crisis, Part 2
August 5, 2014
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s proposal to consolidate 11 safety net and related programs, including the four largest federal rental assistance programs, into a single block grant to states risks significant funding cuts to housing assistance that helps 4.7 million low-income families, as we...
Helping Renters Afford Their Homes
July 16, 2014
Today’s New York Times “Room for Debate” forum asks “Should Housing Policy Support Renters More?” It’s an important discussion since, as we explain in this chart book, federal housing policy is imbalanced in two...
House Restriction on Housing Vouchers Would Harm Low-Income Residents of Oil and Gas Boomtowns
June 19, 2014
The House adopted an amendment offered by Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) to limit subsidies in the Housing Choice Voucher program. The amendment, attached to the House 2015 funding bill for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD), would weaken state and local housing agencies’ ability to adapt to rental markets in individual communities. Some of its worst effects...
Tax-Credit Bill Would Help Low-Income Families Facing Higher Rents
April 17, 2014
House Ways and Means Committee member Charles Rangel (D-NY) has introduced legislation to establish a new federal tax credit to help low-income renters afford housing. As we’ve explained, a renters’ credit along these lines would...