In bipartisan letter to congressional leaders, mayors push for passage of legislation that would build 550,000 new units nationwide in the next decade; Mayors representing 8 of 10 most populous U.S. cities, communities in 19 states sign letter
WASHINGTON, D.C. – In a letter sent today, a bipartisan group of 45 mayors representing communities in 19 states throughout the country and the District of Columbia urged congressional leaders to include affordable housing legislation introduced by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and U.S. Representative Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01) in any tax package considered by Congress before the end of the year. The list includes mayors representing 8 of the 10 most populous cities, and 14 of the top 25, in the United States.
The letter was led by the mayors of Seattle, WA, and Tacoma, WA. It was also signed by the mayors of: Anchorage, AK; Mesa, AZ; Phoenix, AZ; Tucson, AZ; East Palo Alto, CA; Los Angeles, CA; Newark, CA; Oakland, CA; Oceanside, CA; Rancho Cordova, CA; Sacramento, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; San Leandro, CA; Santa Monica, CA; Denver, CO; Washington, D.C.; Chicago, IL; Carmel, IN; Louisville, KY; New Orleans, LA; Boston, MA; Minneapolis, MN; Saint Paul, MN; St. Louis, MO; New York, NY; Newburgh, NY; Rochester, NY; Akron, OH; Cleveland, OH; Columbus, OH; Philadelphia, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Dallas, TX; San Antonio, TX; Montpelier, VT; Vergennes, VT; Winooski, VT; Alexandria, VA; Colville, WA; Everett, WA; Madison, WI; and Milwaukee, WI.
“Our nation is facing one of the worst housing crises in our history,” the mayors wrote in a letter to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. “The Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would have a critical impact in addressing our rental housing shortages and increasing access to affordable housing for hard-working families, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.”
Calling the Housing Credit a “model public-private partnership,” the mayors continued: “the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act would provide a much-needed investment in our nation’s housing infrastructure, while also generating $48.5 billion in wages and business income, $19.1 billion in additional tax revenue, and 510,000 jobs.”
In June, Cantwell and DelBene introduced the bipartisan Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2019. The bill would expand the Affordable Housing Tax Credit – also known as the Low Income Housing Tax Credit – creating more than 550,000 new units than would otherwise be built, including almost 10,000 in Washington state. The bill would also support more than 11,000 jobs in Washington and add over $1 billion to the state’s economy in wages and business income.
In recent years, the United States has experienced a severe housing affordability crisis. In Washington state between 2006 and 2015, the median rent increased by 18%, while the median income in the state increased only three percent. In 2017, more than 500,000 households – nearly 37% of all households in the state – spent more than 30% of their monthly income on rent, and nearly 400,000 of these households paid more than half of their monthly income. These statistics are even more drastic among extremely low-income renters in the state – 71% pay half or more of their monthly income on rent.
In addition to building thousands of new units, the Cantwell-DelBene legislation would enable the Housing Tax Credit to better serve at-risk and underserved communities by increasing the number of credits available for housing developments serving extremely low-income populations, those with special needs, and those in Indian Country. The legislation would also strengthen veteran-specific housing options and allow states to increase the credits available for projects in rural areas.
Affordable housing has long been a priority issue for Senator Cantwell. In 2018, she successfully secured a nearly $3 billion down payment toward addressing the affordable housing crisis, helping to build over 28,000 units and support an additional 32,000 jobs. Earlier this year, she joined colleagues to introduce bipartisan legislation that would establish a task force on the affordable housing crisis. DelBene has been a leading voice in the House of Representatives on affordable housing legislation. She has held numerous round table with local organizations in Washington state to find solutions to the affordable housing crisis facing so many families throughout Washington state.
Cantwell Introduces Legislation to Provide Technical Assistance for Trade Enforcement Programs
Technical assistance, capacity building programs help grow international trade
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced legislation to provide $75 million to the U.S. Department of Labor and the U.S. Agency for International Development for technical assistance and trade enforcement programs. The funding will help support critical programs and infrastructure to grow trade between the United States and Mexico.
Trade with Mexico is critical for Washington state’s economy:
“In the state of Washington, we export $2 billion worth of goods to Mexico,” Senator Cantwell said. “It accounts for 107,000 jobs in the state of Washington. And when we’re talking about these things, we should be talking about expanding economic opportunity. There’s a big market outside the United States, but we have to have the tools and the enforcement mechanisms to make sure these agreements are lived up to.”
Last week, Cantwell and Representative Suzan DelBene (D, WA-01) sent a letter to United States Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer urging him to include U.S. technical assistance for labor enforcement programs in Mexico in the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
“Capacity building is key to strengthening enforcement of labor rights – an essential element of the USMCA. Furthermore, the United States must also have the requisite resources to monitor and enforce the labor obligations in the USMCA in order to protect workers throughout North America,” Cantwell and DelBene wrote to Ambassador Lighthizer. “Whether it be through capacity building support or monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, we need to make clear that the United States is committed to supporting Mexico's labor reform process.”
Senator Cantwell has long prioritized capacity building and technical assistance programs. In 2015, she worked to create the Trade Enforcement Trust Fund, which provides resources for enforcement actions and helps agencies in charge of enforcing international trade agreements build capacity with trading partners on environmental, labor, intellectual property, and other issues.
She also raised the issue at a Senate Finance Committee hearing earlier this year, questioning Michael Wessel, a staff advisor to the United States Trade Representative and Department of Labor’s Labor Advisory Committee and the Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations, about the importance of capacity building assistance:
“Earlier this year, Mexico entered into new labor laws ensuring Mexican workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. And now they have to create their independent labor courts,” Cantwell said at the hearing. “So now they have to implement these reforms. So what do we need to do to build capacity in this area? And don’t we need to put in place enforcement tools to build capacity to protect and enforce labor rights?”
“The market opportunities you’re talking about are enhanced by having workers be able to enjoy their rights so that they are good consumers of our products. So having labor rights in Mexico will enhance opportunities for our exporters of all products,” Wessel replied. “Mexico has a number of things it needs to do on its own, and they have set out a work plan to do some of that… So the U.S. helping on capacity building in Mexico is vital to help those workers who have not had rights or understood their rights for so long… to make sure that we don’t have to go to enforcement where injury has occurred, but that we can build the capacity to be able to make sure the agreement is a success.”
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