Affordable Housing, Economic Mobility Bill

The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2018, recently introduced by U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, seeks to create more affordable housing for Americans in the lower and middle classes.

The bill would make new home construction easier, faster, and more affordable for builders by offering incentives to local governments to ease or eliminate strict zoning and land use regulations, and provides for the rehabilitation of existing homes. The potential cost cuts afforded builders may in turn make homes more affordable for buyers, Realtor.com reports. In addition, the bill offers buyers in lower income brackets and in minority communities historically rejected for financing due to housing discrimination greater down payment assistance, and offers help for homeowners underwater on their mortgages.

"The federal government has for many years not stepped up to the extent that it's needed to preserve and develop affordable housing," says Edward Goetz, an urban planning professor at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. And while this bill isn't likely to become law anytime soon, he believes "it's the beginning of a longer strategy." ... It's unlikely that the bill, focused on creating more affordable housing for low-income and middle-class Americans, would be passed by a Republican-controlled Congress. But the political landscape could change if the midterm elections in November usher in a blue wave of elected officials.

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