WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, joined Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) in sending a letter calling on President Joseph R. Biden, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer to include the Committee-passed housing provisions in the Build Back Better Act.
“Housing is a human right and critical infrastructure, and it’s time we invested in it as such,” said Rep. Pressley in a statement alongside the letter. “The Build Back Better Act is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to expand affordable housing access, tackle the racial wealth and homeownership gaps, and promote safe and healthy housing, and we must capitalize on it. Communities in the Massachusetts 7th and nationwide demand, deserve, and require nothing less.”
The letter was signed by every Democratic Member of the House Financial Services Committee.
“As we continue to work together to pass a broad-ranging and comprehensive infrastructure plan, we cannot ignore the immediate housing infrastructure needs facing individuals, families, and communities throughout the United States,” wrote the lawmakers in their letter. “Housing is health care, it is stability for children, it is climate justice, and it is racial justice. This is an investment that simply cannot wait and must be included at robust levels in the budget reconciliation package.”
Last month, the House Financial Services Committee passed its portion of the Build Back Better Act, which makes a historic investment of over $300 billion in the nation’s housing stock and includes several key priorities championed by Rep. Pressley to combat our nation’s housing crisis and put us on a path to ending homelessness and housing poverty.
Rep. Pressley continues to lead efforts to advance housing justice on behalf of families across the Massachusetts 7th Congressional District and the nation. She is a leading voice in Congress working to reinstate the federal eviction moratorium as a matter of economic, public health and racial justice.
In July, she organized in solidarity with Congresswoman Bush and other progressive colleagues to urge the Administration to act unilaterally to extend this protection—efforts that resulted in a new targeted CDC eviction moratorium. Last month, following the Supreme Court ruling striking down the moratorium, she led her colleagues in calling on Congressional leadership imploring them to swiftly pass legislation to extend the federal eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic.
Rep. Pressley has also consistently advocated for bold, race-conscious policies to help close the racial wealth gap in America. Earlier this year, Rep. Pressley joined Chairwoman Maxine Waters in introducing the Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2021 to help address the legacy of discrimination in U.S. housing markets and close the racial wealth and homeownership gaps by providing $100 billion toward downpayment and other financial assistance for first-generation homebuyers to purchase their first home.
In February, she and Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) introduced the American Opportunity Accounts Act, also known as “Baby Bonds,” to create a federally-funded savings account for every American child at birth that will grow each year depending on family income.
