Increasing Affordable Housing
As New York City’s senior Member for housing on the Financial Services Committee, Representative Velázquez has worked tirelessly to secure funding to meet the housing needs of over 630,000 City residents. She has also introduced legislation that enhances consumer protections for prospective home buyers.
Representative Velázquez was successful in keeping New York’s public housing eligible for federal support. Her efforts resulted in an additional $55 million annually to staff and operate numerous public housing developments around the city that went unfunded for years. She was also instrumental in getting Section 8 rental assistance vouchers fully funded at more than $28 billion for 2012. Vouchers help over 100,000 New York City families meet their rent obligations.
Through the Congresswoman’s support for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) was awarded $423 million in stimulus funding. The Authority allocated nearly $200 million to Brooklyn and Manhattan for building repairs and modernization.
The Congresswoman introduced the Consumer Protection Home Inspection Counseling Act of 2012 in March. This bill strengthens the protections she had included in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. It will create a comprehensive training program for housing counselors to assist home-buyers with obtaining a home inspection. She was also successful in securing additional funding for housing counseling services that support education programs for first-time homeowners and those facing foreclosure.
Representative Velázquez has always been a staunch supporter of innovative ways to improve access to affordable housing. She adamantly opposes cuts to housing programs and will keep fighting to prevent underfunding from erasing 20 years of progress in New York City’s housing market.