Affordable Rural Housing

AFFORDABLE RURAL HOUSING -- (House of Representatives - September 12, 2006)

(Mr. HINOJOSA asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

Mr. HINOJOSA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of increasing the availability and affordability and quality of rural housing in the United States. It is a long time coming.

To move towards this goal, I have introduced two pieces of legislation. H.R. 5896, the Housing Assistance Council Authorization Act of 2006, authorizes $10 million for HAC in fiscal year 2007 and $15 million for fiscal years 2008 through 2012. This will enable the council to further improve housing conditions for the rural poor, particularly the poorest of the poor in the most rural places in the United States.

H.R. 6044, the Rural Housing and Economic Development Enhancement Act of 2006, authorizes $30 million for the RHED program in fiscal year 2007 and $40 million for fiscal years 2008 through 2012.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage members of the Congressional Rural Housing Caucus and all of my other colleagues in the House of Representatives to cosponsor these bills.

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I rise today in support of increasing the availability, affordability and quality of rural housing in the United States. It is a long time coming.

To move toward this goal, I have introduced two pieces of legislation.

H.R. 5896, the ``Housing Assistance Council Authorization Act of 2006'' authorizes $10 million for HAC in fiscal year 2007, and $15 million for fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012. This will enable the Council to further improve housing conditions for the rural poor, particularly the poorest of the poor in the most rural places in the United States.

It will also enable ``HAC'' to offer additional services to public, nonprofit, and private organizations throughout the rural United States.

H.R. 6044, the ``Rural Housing and Economic Development Enhancement Act of 2006,'' authorizes $30 million for the RHED program in fiscal year 2007 and $40 million for fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012.

These authorizations will help the program provide additional funding to increase and improve capacity building at the State and local level and support innovative housing and economic development activities in rural areas.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage the members of the Congressional Rural Housing Caucus, and all my other colleagues in the House of Representatives, to cosponsor these bills.

They will both improve rural housing and the lives of our constituents in rural areas. I ask that letters of support and a copy of the bills be made a part of the Record.

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