IV 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. CON. RES. 74 

Affirming the right of all renters to a safe, affordable, and decent home. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 27, 2017 

Ms. LEE (for herself, Ms. MAXINE WATERS of California, Mrs. BEATTY, Ms. 

VELA ́ZQUEZ, Mr. AL GREEN of Texas, and Mr. ELLISON) submitted the 

following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on 

Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Budget, and 

the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, 

in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 

Affirming the right of all renters to a safe, affordable, and 

decent home. 

Whereas housing is a basic human right; 

Whereas evidence-based research has shown that families 

with safe, decent, and affordable homes are better able 

to find employment, achieve economic mobility, perform 

better in school, and maintain improved health; 

Whereas investing in affordable housing strengthens our 

economy, creates jobs, boosts families’ incomes, and encourages further development; 

Whereas far too many families living in urban, suburban, and 

rural communities struggle to afford their rent each 


dlhill on DSKBC4BHB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HCON 74 IH 

month, putting them at increased risk of eviction and 

homelessness; 

Whereas according to the Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) point-in-time count of 2016, there 

were 549,928 people in the United States experiencing 

homelessness on any given night, including over 120,000 

children; 

Whereas homelessness has become so pervasive that some 

States and cities have declared that homelessness has 

reached a state of emergency; 

Whereas major progress towards the national goals for ending homelessness in our Nation has stalled in the absence 

of increased funding; 

Whereas a shortage of affordable housing exists in every 

State and major metropolitan area; 

Whereas a full-time worker earning the Federal minimum 

wage cannot afford a modest two-bedroom apartment in 

any State, metropolitan area, or county in the United 

States; 

Whereas over half of all renters are cost-burdened, paying 

more than 30 percent of their income for housing, and 

71 percent of extremely low-income households are severely cost-burdened, paying more than half of their income for housing; 

Whereas rapidly rising rents across the country have pushed 

many long-time residents and families out of the communities they call home; 

Whereas closed waiting lists and long waits mean only a 

quarter of the families who qualify for housing assistance 

actually receive it; 


dlhill on DSKBC4BHB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HCON 74 IH 

Whereas the role of Federal affordable housing investments 

is even more important given the limited ability of the 

private market alone to address these needs; 

Whereas various programs at the Department of Housing 

and Urban Development help to subsidize housing for 

more than 4,000,000 low-income families, including the 

Public Housing program, the Section 8 Housing Choice 

Vouchers (HCV) program, the Section 8 Project-Based 

Rental Assistance program, the Section 202 Supportive 

Housing for the Elderly program, the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program, 

and the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS 

(HOPWA) program; 

Whereas despite leveraging billions of dollars in private resources to preserve and expand the supply of affordable 

housing, affordable housing programs continue to be 

chronically underfunded despite their success at providing 

safe housing to families in need; 

Whereas chronic underfunding of the Public Housing Capital 

Fund has led to a backlog of more than $26,000,000,000 

in capital repairs and deteriorating conditions for residents; 

Whereas without Federal investments, many more families 

would be homeless, living in substandard or overcrowded 

conditions, or struggling to meet other basic needs because too much of their limited income would be used to 

pay rent; 

Whereas low Federal spending caps required by the Budget 

Control Act of 2011 (Public Law 112–25) have decreased 

funding for affordable housing and community development programs; 


dlhill on DSKBC4BHB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HCON 74 IH 

Whereas these austere spending caps threaten affordable 

housing and community development for millions of low 

income families; 

Whereas even renters with housing subsidies often face barriers to finding housing providers willing to rent to them; 

Whereas under current Federal law, housing discrimination 

against a renter is illegal if it is based on race, color, religion, sex, familial status, national origin, or disability; 

Whereas renters should be protected against housing discrimination through stronger enforcement of fair housing 

laws; and 

Whereas despite various clarifying memos from HUD, the reentry community continues to face barriers in trying to 

secure access to federally assisted housing: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 

2 concurring), That the House of Representatives— 

3 (1) supports lifting the spending caps required 

4 by the Budget Control Act of 2011 and robustly 

5 funding programs to increase access to affordable 

6 housing and address homelessness at the Depart7 ment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) 

8 and other Federal agencies; 

9 (2) opposes any cuts to Federal investments in 

10 affordable housing programs at the Department of 

11 Housing and Urban Development and other Federal 

12 agencies; 


dlhill on DSKBC4BHB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HCON 74 IH 

1 (3) supports increased funding to the Public 

2 Housing Capital Fund to address the backlog of 

3 capital repairs for public housing; 

4 (4) supports expanded funding for the National 

5 Housing Trust Fund to boost the supply of afford6 able housing available to extremely low-income fami7 lies; 

8 (5) supports efforts to preserve and rehabilitate 

9 existing housing to maintain and increase the avail10 able stock of affordable housing and proposals by 

11 local entities to prevent any net loss of overall af12 fordable housing units receiving Federal subsidies; 

13 (6) supports strengthened Federal fair housing 

14 laws; 

15 (7) affirms that renters may not be barred from 

16 federally assisted housing solely on the basis of a 

17 criminal record; 

18 (8) supports expansion of renters’ rights, in19 cluding the right of tenants to organize tenant asso20 ciations; and 

21 (9) affirms that housing is a basic human right. 

Æ 


dlhill on DSKBC4BHB2PROD with BILLS