Affordable Housing Overview
The Current Legislative Environment
The U.S. Housing Act of 1949 (P.L. 81_171) established a national goal of "a decent home and a suitable living environment for every American family." In the time since the enactment of P.L. 81_171, progress toward this goal is incomplete. The bipartisan, congressionally mandated Millennial Housing Commission’s 2002 final report identified "affordability" as "the single greatest housing challenge facing the Nation." The Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies found that between 2001 and 2004, the number of households paying more than 30 percent of their income toward housing increased from 31.3 million to 35.0 million (an increase from 29.4 percent…
