Affordable housing For All
The problem
New Jersey has the 6th highest rent wage in the country. It’s a state where an individual needs to earn $29.00 an hour to afford the average two-bedroom apartment. New Jersey is also the 7th worst state for affordable housing, where almost half of the renters are cost burdened, spending at least 30% of their income on housing.
Here in the 8th District, renters make up over 70% of all households. Of those renters, 46% qualify for some form of rent subsidy, earning less than 50% of the area median income (AMI). Of the renters that qualify for a housing subsidy in the 8th District, 56% percent are severely cost burdened, spending at least half of their income on rent. To make matters worse, the 8th District has a deficit of 94,000 affordable housing units.
Our Solution
A Return to Social Housing
Social housing exists in many forms around the globe, making up 5% of Canada and Germany’s housing, 18% in Sweden, 32% in the Netherlands, nearly 50% in Hong Kong, and 80% in Singapore. Social Housing creates a non-landlord, non-profit entity responsible for management, financing, and the income profile of its residents. This entity can be a government body, or a community-based not-for-profit institution. The United States historically had social housing which contributed to the growth and prosperity of our nation, especially in large, industrial hubs like NJ-08. However, in the post-war era, deeply entrenched, regressive attitudes toward racial integration transformed our nation’s housing system into one driven by profit and financial and racial segregation, resulting in red-lining and accumulation of wealth and property by an elite, greedy class. To this day, property ownership remains one of the deepest determinants of socio-economic mobility. Hector supports a social housing program that:
Incentivizes state and local governments to innovate and expand mixed-tenant housing, land trusts, community-based and non-profit management
Reforms the estate tax, the capital gains tax on home sales (more below), and the corporate tax to fund more deeply affordable housing so that the institutional and generational transfer of wealth from families who benefited from red-lining are distributed equitable from communities most directly affected by systemic racism and segregation.
It’s time to disrupt the system of segregation that is written into our federal tax law. These tax reforms would expand the affordable and social housing system to 11 million additional units at minimum.
Increase class diversity, economic stability, and diminish housing insecurity by allowing public-housing residents to build and accumulate wealth, without fear of the benefits cliff that would result in losing their homes. Increasing the affordable housing inventory by at least 4 million units allows existing tenants to accumulate wealth and stability, while staying in their homes with incomes of up to 110% of the AMI.
Keep NJ-08 A Place to Prosper
Hector’s 2020’s campaign is inspired by the historic and unprecedented organizing by Congressperson Ocasio-Cortez. Hector believes that NJ-08 should be prosperous FOR tenants and working class families, not at their expense. For that reason, Hector supports Congressperson Ocasio-Cortez’s “A Place to Prosper Act,” with particular focus on:
Amending the Fair Housing Act so landlords cannot discriminate against potential tenants based on the use of housing vouchers, federal assistance, or any other lawful source of income.
Ensuring housing is de-commodified and available for local residents to own and buy homes by regulating the few and greedy, large-scale landlords who own 100 or more units in a single market.
Such landlords must disclose: median rent charged, number and type of code violations, how many tenants have been evicted via court order, identity of the owner and three largest shareholders, total additional fees paid by tenants, and the most recent standard lease agreement. All disclosed information must be provided to HUD and made available online.
Protecting low-income residents, communities of color, and residents who have historically been the target of surveillance and over-policing, have the same access to housing as all other communities.
Hector supports eliminating restrictions on accessibility and eligibility for housing assistance, most importantly those added during the punitive welfare-restricting Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which gave state and local governments more jurisdiction to limit public assistance.
Unlock Opportunities for Communities by Ending Trump’s Opportunity Zones
Prior to becoming President, Donald Trump was a master at exploiting the capital gains tax and maximizing the opportunities of a greedy, elite few. Trump took his experience as a crooked, real-estate exploiter to the White House, creating an “Opportunity Zone” tax incentive for ravenous investors to profit from the displacement of residents under the guise of redevelopment.
Trump’s Opportunity Zones replicate the rapid gentrification that has displaced residents in communities like our own, to other communities of color across the country. Instead of incentivizing investors to profit off the backs of the poor and working class, Hector supports Congressperson Rashida Tlaib’s proposal to:
End the Opportunity Zones program and repurpose its incentives to fund community land trusts, non-profit housing, land banks, and community-organizations;
Fund the wrap-around services and programs that prevent housing insecurity, particularly programs that address wage stagnation, build tenant and community power, and invest in labor and employee Know Your Rights programs that fight against income inequality and wage exploitation.
HOPE VI Mixed-Income Housing Program
Public-private partnerships to build mixed-income housing have de-stigmatized public housing and provided a path towards upward mobility for low-income families by breaking up areas of concentrated poverty. However, the shortcomings of the original HOPE IV should be addressed to ensure that families have a clear and lasting path out of poverty.
An infusion of capital into grants for the HOPE VI program should invest in youth enrichment programs and education programs, as well as the redevelopment of public housing into mixed-income communities, learning from similar programs in Atlanta and San Francisco.
Expand the National Housing Trust Fund
The National Housing Trust Fund has been a tremendous tool to increase the stock of affordable housing units, but has not been adequately funded. Hector is calling for a $5 billion capital infusion into the National Housing Trust Fund to build 11 million new affordable housing units.
Renter Tax Credit
A monthly renter’s tax credit, coupled with increasing the stock of affordable housing to mitigate rise in demand and subsequent rise in rent prices gives people more money to spend on other basic necessities like food and healthcare. Hector is calling for a tax credit equal housing costs exceeding 30% of any renter’s income.
Expand Section 8 Housing
End the benefits cliff that throws people off housing subsidies once they become barely stable. People should not fear losing their housing because of a small increase in their income. Because housing in the 21st Century has become unaffordable, thresholds for Section 8 Housing should be increased as follows:
Extremely Low Income- 50 percent of the area’s median income level.
Very Low Income- 80 percent of the area’s median income level.
Low Income- 120 percent of the area’s median income level.
Federal Rent Control
Landlords who own ten or more units shall not raise rents more than 5% on an annual basis.
Occupancy Tax on Luxury Units
Luxury condominium units that are vacant for more than three months shall be assessed a tax equal to the amount of rent that would have been collected during that three month period. This incentivizes landlords to find renters, rather than hoarding units that would otherwise alleviate the housing deficit.
Abatements
Developers have bribed local politicians in exchange for tax abatements, allowing them to decimate our communities with high-end condominiums that no one in our community can afford. Hector proposes implementing a federal tax on luxury developments equal to any abatements received from local governments, if those developments do not increase the stock of affordable housing units.
Social Justice in Housing
Redlining is still alive and well, and banks continue to deny credit applications to people of color, even in New Jersey. As recently as 2015, the Justice Department settled with Paramus-based Hudson City Savings Bank for $33 million after a six year investigation showed that they were systematically discriminating against people of color in awarding mortgages. This racist practice has kept people of color stuck in a cycle of poverty for decades. It not only needs to be stopped, it needs to be reversed. That is why Hector proposes creating an Equal Opportunity Home Tax Credit for first-time home buyers of color.
Housing discrimination is intersectional, affecting women, people of non-Christian faiths, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities. Hector supports expanding funding for the Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity to ensure the equal opportunity laws already in place are strongly enforced. Hector will fight to provide funding for programs to educate people on their rights when renting or purchasing a home, and where they can seek help if they feel they are victims of housing discrimination.
Supporting the LGBTQ Community
As homelessness continues to rise across our community, it is necessary to consider a particularly vulnerable group of people: LGBTQ people, especially those of color. 34 percent of Black and 28 percent of Hispanic respondents to the National Transgender Discrimination survey reported a household income of less than $10,000 a year. Given the high cost of housing in our community, the unfortunate result is many of these people are unable to afford rent or even to get a lease.
This reality is reflected in the 94% of homeless service agencies which reported working with LGBTQ youth according to a study done by the Williams Institute at UCLA. The trans community faces unique hardships. According to the National Center for Transgender Equality, 1 in 5 trans people will face homelessness at some point in their lives.
Due to violence, stigma, and limited access to healthcare, the first place many homeless LGBTQ people turn is a shelter. Unfortunately, shelters and their workers are often unequipped to serve them in their time of greatest need. Hector proposes creating training programs and grants to equip homeless shelters and their workers with the resources and training necessary to provide them with the full measure of care they deserve. In addition to passing federal legislation to protect the rights of LGBTQ people and preempt states from passing legislation that discriminates against them when accessing public spaces and services.
Supporting Women
Patriarchy is a form of oppression that stains every part of our society, including housing; 26% of women in New Jersey have experienced domestic violence in their lifetime. Whether they end up being thrown out on the street or choose to stay with a violent partner, the lack of affordable, transitional housing options puts women in dangerous situations. There are parts of our district that have no women’s shelter in the community. A 2013 study conducted by the National Network to End Domestic Violence found that while 90% of state domestic violence coalitions saw increasing demands for services, 69% reported that their funding had been cut. When 63% of homeless women are victims of domestic violence, this is unacceptable. This is why Hector pledges to introduce a House version of the Help End Abusive Living Situations (HEALS) act to build more transitional housing for victims of domestic violence.
An unfortunate consequence of the wage gap and low-paying “pink collar” jobs is that women cannot afford to pay rent. This puts women, particularly those of color, at greater risk for eviction and homelessness. 83% of households relying on Section 8 vouchers are headed by women. Because of our district’s commuter culture, the demand for housing from wealthy gentrifiers provides a powerful incentive for landlords to try to use unjustified and unwarranted evictions to intimidate low-income women to move out so they can raise rents. Because eviction is normally a civil matter, renters do not have the right to counsel. We will expand legal services for those facing evictions and provide federal grants to local legal services offices in order to guarantee adequate representation in landlord-tenant disputes to dissuade unscrupulous landlords from taking advantage of women.
Supporting Veterans
Service members are working class people, many of whom join the military hoping to find an opportunity to improve their economic situation. Whether we agree with the foreign policy of any past, present, or future administration, it is completely unjust to allow these brave men and women to slip into poverty and homelessness after the sacrifices they make. The veteran homelessness crisis is an issue which affects particularly vulnerable populations, given that 45% of homeless veterans are African American or Hispanic, according to the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans.
While on active duty, service members are entitled to the basic allowance for housing (BAH) in order to secure housing for themselves and their families wherever they are stationed. For reasons ranging from military experience and certifications not being directly transferable to the civilian labor market to PTSD and other mental trauma, once a service member separates from the military, they face a world that struggles to understand them and reintegrate them into civilian society. This often leads to veterans being jobless and quickly homeless shortly after returning to civilian life. In order to help recently separated veterans with their transition, Hector proposes extending the BAH for recently separated veterans for 2 years with a 4 year sunset period afterwards. That allowance should also be provided to currently homeless veterans in order to completely eliminate the injustice that is veteran homelessness. But because securing housing is not the silver bullet to prevent homelessness, Hector also proposes expanding funding for local "veterans who help veterans" groups that can provide vulnerable veterans with the support they need to continue bettering themselves.
Homeless veterans also face particular and unique hardships which may not be met by homeless shelters and their workers. In order to provide homeless veterans with the level of care they deserve in their most vulnerable moments, Hector proposes providing grants for training and equipping homeless shelters and their workers with the skills and resources required to get homeless veterans the attention they deserve.
