Affordable Housing: We Cannot Afford To Ignore It (Rep. Jerry Weller)

Areas of the country that are growing rapidly are facing an under-reported problem: a lack of affordable housing.  I represent the bulk of the fastest growing county in Illinois, and one of the 10 fastest growing in the nation — Will County.  The growth has been such that U.S. News and World Report recently named it the 8th-worst county in the nation for traffic gridlock.

But for a growing number of my constituents, it’s not a problem of reducing the travel time between work and home.  It’s a problem of finding a home.

I hosted a roundtable meeting with low-income housing providers, realtors, and home builders this week to listen and learn about the problem, and foster cooperation among those serving the community in this way.  The issue faced by everyone at the table was determining, in this rapidly growing area, what is affordable.  The days of purchasing a single-family home for $80,000 without some form of aid are long gone.

We’ve taken some steps to address the problem in Congress, including the Low Income Housing Tax Credit, of which I am a strong supporter.  It has helped provide a home for more than 26,000 families in Illinois.  The Joliet Housing Authority, which handles a growing number of low-income housing cases, has high praise for that credit.

With passage of HR 1427 and its Affordable Housing Fund, my hope is that more resources can go to areas that are facing a growing affordable housing deficit.

I urge my colleagues, particularly in rapidly growing parts of the country, if they have not already done so, to address the issue of affordable housing.