The pandemic uncovered an already broken housing system and resulted in thousands of evictions and homelessness, legal experts say.
U.S. Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri said the issue is personal to her.
Bush joined other housing advocates on the American Bar Association webinar, “Ending Homelessness and Promoting Racial Equity Through the Human Right to Housing: What’s Happening on the Hill,” sponsored by the Section of Civil Rights and Social Justice.
“We had a housing crisis long before this pandemic,” Bush said. “We’ve called for housing justice for all. As winter closes in, freezing temperatures threaten the lives of every single unhoused person without shelter.”
Experts agreed that more needs to be done to get people, especially children, housed.
Bush said that during the pandemic, shelters and temporary housing settings can be “deadly,” because congregant housing increases the threat of contracting COVID-19. “As we speak, tens of thousands of families are faced with the impossible choice of dying on the streets or dying in a shelter,” Bush said.
“There is not a single state or even congressional district with enough supply of affordable housing for low-income families,” Bush said, adding, “This is a crisis.”
According to Sarah Saadian, vice president of public policy with the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the federal safety net programs did not work during the pandemic, and many people were behind on rent and facing evictions because resources were not available at the scale needed to solve the housing crisis. She also said there was not enough renter protection in place at the federal and state level.
In September, Bush introduced the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) Improvement Act of 2021 to help improve and expand access to emergency rental assistance. It would allow people to apply for funds at public schools, libraries and other public places.
Panelists agreed that substantial investments need to be made in affordable housing and public housing similar to those that were mentioned in President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act.
Bush said the money slated for housing in the act would “forever change” the approach that the federal government would take with housing policy.
