Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), gave the following floor statement in support of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act. The Moving Forward Act includes Chairwoman Waters’ legislation, H.R. 5187, the Housing Is Infrastructure Act.

Thank you very much, Chairman DeFazio for your tremendous leadership and work on this legislation. Mister Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 2, the Moving Forward Act, which includes $100 billion in critical funding for our nation’s affordable housing infrastructure to create or preserve approximately 1.8 million affordable homes. While we need stronger and better roads and bridges, they mean nothing for families that don’t have a roof over their head or are forced to live in substandard housing.

This country is in the midst of an affordable housing crisis. It is a crisis of tragic proportions that has resulted in over 550,000 people experiencing homelessness, and nearly 38 million renter households paying unaffordable rents even before this crisis began.

The public health crisis that we are currently experiencing has exacerbated matters, with millions of Americans across the country having lost their jobs and struggling to afford their housing costs. Communities of color continue to suffer disproportionately both from the virus and the resulting economic damage.

The investments into affordable housing through this bill will not only increase and improve the supply of affordable housing, but it will also create jobs throughout the country, and generate revenue for state and local governments, which will go a long way to help our economy recover from the pandemic.

I would like to thank Speaker Pelosi and Chairman DeFazio for their work putting together this legislative package. I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation and I yield back my time.

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