All across America, the housing crisis is crushing middle-class and poor Americans, driving them deeper into debt, and making homeownership unattainable for younger generations. The median first-time homebuyer age in America is now forty years old — that’s shameful, and an affront to the American Dream. The National Association of Realtors additionally projects that the roughly ten-year spike in the average age of first-time home buyers results in about $150,000 in lost equity over that gap. That makes it harder for homeowners to move, repair, and remodel their homes, and their “starter” home — typically small and inadequate to raise a family — becomes their home for life. This all contributes to declining purchasing power in each succeeding generation, resulting in a nation of renters without as much economic independence as our parents and grandparents.
I have been a renter my entire adult life and the prospect of home ownership seems to always be further and further away for my generation. Many of us accepted long ago that we would probably only ever own the homes we inherit from our parents, if we’re lucky enough to have parents who are homeowners. But as my generation’s acceptance that we’ll be renters for life grows, so too has my desire to radically rethink the way the housing market operates in the United States.
Here in the Ninth District, we also suffer from an affordable housing shortage. Our district includes both the northeastern neighborhoods of Chicago, like Rogers Park and Uptown, and stretches as far northwest as Crystal Lake. It includes both urban and suburban housing, from single-family homes to high-rise apartments. There is a large unhoused population, which is severely harmed each year by glacial temperatures along Lake Michigan in the winter, and despite the best efforts of the state and city, that population grows each year. The average monthly rent for a one bedroom apartment in our district (within Chicago proper) is $1,462, a nearly 7% increase over last year’s average.
We also face a supply shortage of housing overall in Illinois. I believe that the primary hurdles facing the construction of new housing units in Illinois are varied, and not identical to those faced by communities around the U.S. The usual issues of zoning, permitting, NIMBYism, purely luxury development, and private equity that are found nationwide are present in Illinois, as are low permitting allowances, high fees and taxes, and a kafkaesque bureaucracy that makes it tough to actually complete projects. Then, once units actually do get built, they end up being sold to the wealthy, and are unaffordable. Interest rates are far too high. By the end of a typical 30-year mortgage, the majority of the money spent by homeowners simply goes to the lender. Interest rates need to come down, supply needs to go up, and tenants deserve the ability to form tenants’ unions. We must find unique, new ways of addressing Illinois’ housing needs that go beyond the platitudes offered by Washington politicians.
Housing is often regarded as an exclusively local issue, but there are clear options for Congress to pursue. If elected to Congress, I would immediately co-sponsor the Homes for All Act, which will invest over $800 billion to build over eight million public housing units across the country. I will also continue to encourage national conversations about creative solutions to tackle the housing crisis, like vacancy taxes and passing a constitutional amendment guaranteeing a right to housing. I would like to revive the Depression-era Works Project Administration (WPA), and mandate a truly national effort towards building both infrastructure and housing. I would like to introduce legislation mandating that the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) assist with the infrastructure development necessary for these affordable housing units to be built, perhaps going so far as to have them lead those efforts. Finally, I would like to have the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in addition to the current grants, furnished with the budgetary resources to do mass-financing of the construction of affordable housing units — not just a block grant that cities can use for “community development.” The national housing crisis is real — we must act accordingly.
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