Issue Position: Housing

Issue Position

As housing costs and availability have reached crisis levels, Susan has worked to defend affordable housing programs and increase the supply of housing units in San Diego. She has been active in the fight to preserve the Section 8 voucher program providing rental assistance to thousands of working families.

Affordable Housing

As housing costs and availability have reached crisis levels, Susan has worked to defend affordable housing programs and increase the supply of housing units in San Diego. Susan has brought thousands of dollars to the region to build housing units in low-income areas and to improve area homeless shelters. She has been active in the fight to preserve the Section 8 voucher program providing rental assistance to thousands of working families. She has also long advocated for expanding the Section 8 housing assistance program. Susan voted in favor of the Section 8 Housing Reform Act (H.R. 1851) to achieve greater funding and additional vouchers. In addition, H.R. 1851 improves the formula used to calculate need to better reflect the high cost of housing prices in the San Diego area. The legislation also creates a program to provide $10,000 grants to low-income families to actually purchase their own homes.

The National Affordable Housing Trust Fund

Earlier in the 110th Congress, Susan enthusiastically supported legislation on the House floor establishing the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund. The fund will construct, preserve, or rehabilitate as many as 1.5 million low-income housing units over the next 10 years. These housing units will go exclusively to low-income individuals and families. Susan has been a loud advocate for creating the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund since coming to Congress.

Home Ownership

Susan has long advocated for home ownership for San Diego's families. She has sponsored numerous bills helping veterans purchase homes after leaving the military and has pushed for several other improvements to federal law to help all San Diegans achieve home ownership. Susan was proud to vote in favor of the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2007 (H.R. 1427). Among other changes, the legislation would designate California as a "high-cost" area allowing homeowners to select mortgages with lower interest rates.

Protecting Home Buyers

Susan also strongly supports taking action to prevent further abuses when it comes to predatory or so-called "subprime" lending. With an increase in foreclosures in the San Diego region and across the nation, it is clear that we must work to ensure that home buyers completely understand the implications of their loans over the long term. Susan supports the Expanding American Homeownership Act of 2007 (H.R. 1852) to provide first-time home buyers with new opportunities to purchase homes. In addition, the legislation would take steps to educate homeowners to avoid riskier adjustable-rate or interest-only home loans.

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