SB 27-09: Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians (Passed)

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Motion to sponsor.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

I do share tack's concerns regarding rent control, so I am going to propose an amendment striking section II.ii.

From my interpretation of the bill, the wait list is meant to apply to Section 8 housing, but the bill doesn't clearly establish that. I'll fix that too.

I'm not sure how we should tweak the city list, but I'll leave it as is until we figure out which cities should be included. Keep in mind that the section isn't binding, though, and the cities listed are only recommendations.

AN ACT
The Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section I. Title & Definitions
i. The long title of this Act shall be the "The Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians"

Section II: Fair Rent Provisions
i. All disabled and SSI/SSDI recipients shall not pay more security deposit within the Republic of Atlasia because of their disability or needs.
ia. This includes people with little rental history.
ii Landlords shall be banned from setting monthly rent to income requirements higher than 2-1 within their rental agreements or policies to get into an apartment.
ii. All waitlists for public housing shall exclude factors such as income requirements higher than twice the rent or rental history.
iii. All peoples making less then $25,000 per year shall be included within the needy category and shall be included within section ii and iii above.
iiia. All people within the needy category must be employed or actively seeking employment.

Section III: Federal Housing
i. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is granted $80 billion to construct affordable modular home complexes.
ii. These complexes will provide housing for those who cannot adequately provide for themselves.
iii. The complexes should be able to house up to 10,000 people.
iiia. The recommended locations for construction of the complexes are Colby, KS, Ellisville, MS; Grayson, KY; just outside of Gresham, OR; just outside of Tacoma, WA; just outside of Boise, ID; just outside of Dallas, TX; just outside of San Fransisco, CA; just outside New York, NY; just outside of Chicago, IL; and just outside of Fort Meyers, FL. Federal and local leaders may recommend additional locations. All recommended locations shall be subject to HUD approval based on federal and local assessment of their suitability for added housing.
iiib. Each unit shall be between 400 and 500 square feet of living space.
iiic. Each unit shall meet the electrical and plumbing requirements determined by HUD.
iiid. "Just outside" means within 75 miles of labeled city.
iv. Residents will receive a monthly stipend of $700.
iva. Residents will have access to work opportunities to earn more money.
v. HUD shall work with the regional and local governments to ensure that homeless populations are matched with a home.

Section IV. Expansion of Subsidies
i. HUD is granted $10 billion to expand rent subsidies for low-income and disabled Atlasians
ia. Preference will be given to SSI/SSDI recipients.
ii. These subsidies shall not exceed 50% of rent or $700 per renter, whichever is greater.

Section V: Transportation Subsidies
I. For Transportation for all disabled and needy approved residents of section III.
II. All that are approved shall get free government paid airplane, grayhound bus or train tickets.
III. The government shall grant 30 million dollars yearly for this program.
IIIa money shall be doled out by HUD.

People's House of Representatives
Passed 7-1-0-1 in the House of Representatives

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Oh right, I forgot that you need sponsor feedback here.

Amendment is friendly.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Hello to my friends in the senate and here is something to consider as you debate and add amendments to this bill. Lets say for example you're disabled living off ssd of $1,000 dollars per month and the only waitlisted places that you can ever consider getting into cost like $600-650/month. The bad news as you look into getting into these apartments is they expect 3 times income to rent. How exactly are our disabled and poor expected to get into a place that demands $1,800/month? Everywhere a disabled person looks it is this way or worst. Of course maybe it isn't this way for 1,000 dollar per month apartments but that would be their entire check.

My point with banning this practice is this. It is the right thing to do.

Please consider that a lot of our homeless are disabled and low income people that literally can't get into an apartment for this reason.

Thank you.

Congresswoman,

As someone who is simultaneously disabled and was the caretaker for another disabled person until the end of her life, I can attest to the fact that there is discrimination in housing practices. Our landlord broke over a dozen codes, had us live in an unsafe environment with no running water, cut corners to death, likely evaded taxes, probably wasn't registered, and made no effort to accommodate us or even show basic decency when emergency medical care was needed. But this is a matter of enforcing existing building codes that ensure a reasonable level of security and comfort.

Strict rent control, however, disincentivizes people from renting out at all. As a result, there is less housing to supply and rent becomes more expensive. This is a matter of basic economics but states and cities have unwisely enacted laws that end up hurting the people they are intended to help.

I am fully on board with expanding public housing, but rent control is a failed experiment.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Are there any other suggestions or concerns with the bill as it currently stands?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

what are people's thoughts about a capital spending program on house building?

As I said in a post above while I didn't support such a large amount of spending on one project alone when we've got a defecit (I think the $40 billion price tag could be better spent elsewhere with covid) I do feel there's certainly a good program/spending work that could be put in place.

I'm happy to draft something tomorrow but would be happy to hear thoughts.

I'm not really sure what a "capital spending program" means but write something up and I'll post my thoughts.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

So I'm submitting this amendment to restore the section that Blair removed.

As far as I'm concerned, the housing affordability crisis can only be resolved by increasing the supply. This can be done by relaxing zoning restrictions to incentivize new renting and development (mostly a regional/local issue), subsidizing new building, or both.

Section III: Federal Housing
i. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is granted $80 billion to construct affordable modular home complexes.
ii. These complexes will provide housing for those who cannot adequately provide for themselves.
iii. The complexes should be able to house up to 10,000 people.
iiia. The recommended locations for construction of the complexes are Colby, KS, Ellisville, MS; Grayson, KY; just outside of Gresham, OR; just outside of Tacoma, WA; just outside of Boise, ID; just outside of Dallas, TX; just outside of San Fransisco, CA; just outside New York, NY; just outside of Chicago, IL; and just outside of Fort Meyers, FL. Federal and local leaders may recommend additional locations. All recommended locations shall be subject to HUD approval based on federal and local assessment of their suitability for added housing.
iiib. Each unit shall be between 400 and 500 square feet of living space.
iiic. Each unit shall meet the electrical and plumbing requirements determined by HUD.
iiid. "Just outside" means within 75 miles of labeled city.
iv. Residents will receive a monthly stipend of $700.
iva. Residents will have access to work opportunities to earn more money.
v. HUD shall work with the regional and local governments to ensure that homeless populations are matched with a home.

Are we satisfied with this?

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

Looks great, but what’s with the Colby/Ellisville/Grayson locations? Understand that this just reflects how the bill was before, but I’d like to have a conversation about why we would concentrate public housing in areas that are likely to be pretty far from where jobs are

They're not mandatory, they're just recommendations. And if we want jobs to come to these places, we need to start somewhere.

[The world will shine with light in our nightmare]

With two ayes, one nay, one abstention, and one non-vote, this passes the Atlasian Senate and is returned to the House of Representatives.

AN ACT
The Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Republic of Atlasia in Congress assembled,

Section I. Title & Definitions
i. The long title of this Act shall be the "The Housing Reform Act for Needy Atlasians"

Section II: Fair Rent Provisions
i. All disabled and SSI/SSDI recipients shall not pay more security deposit within the Republic of Atlasia because of their disability or needs.
ia. This includes people with little rental history.
ii Landlords shall be banned from setting monthly rent to income requirements higher than 2-1 within their rental agreements or policies to get into an apartment.
iii. All waitlists shall exclude factors such as income requirements higher than twice the rent or rental history.
iv. All peoples making less then $25,000 per year shall be included within the needy category and shall be included within section ii and iii above.
iva. All people within the needy category must be employed or actively seeking employment.

Section III: Federal Housing
i. The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is granted $80 billion to construct affordable modular home complexes.
ii. These complexes will provide housing for those who cannot adequately provide for themselves.
iii. The complexes should be able to house up to 10,000 people.
iiia. The recommended locations for construction of the complexes are Colby, KS, Ellisville, MS; Grayson, KY; just outside of Gresham, OR; just outside of Tacoma, WA; just outside of Boise, ID; just outside of Dallas, TX; just outside of San Fransisco, CA; just outside New York, NY; just outside of Chicago, IL; and just outside of Fort Meyers, FL. Federal and local leaders may recommend additional locations. All recommended locations shall be subject to HUD approval based on federal and local assessment of their suitability for added housing.
iiib. Each unit shall be between 400 and 500 square feet of living space.
iiic. Each unit shall meet the electrical and plumbing requirements determined by HUD.
iiid. "Just outside" means within 75 miles of labeled city.
iv. Residents will receive a monthly stipend of $700.
iva. Residents will have access to work opportunities to earn more money.
v. HUD shall work with the regional and local governments to ensure that homeless populations are matched with a home.

Section IV. Expansion of Subsidies
i. HUD is granted $10 billion to expand rent subsidies for low-income and disabled Atlasians
ia. Preference will be given to SSI/SSDI recipients.
ii. These subsidies shall not exceed 50% of rent or $700 per renter, whichever is greater.

Section V: Transportation Subsidies
I. For Transportation for all disabled and needy approved residents of section III.
II. All that are approved shall get free government paid airplane, grayhound bus or train tickets.
III. The government shall grant 30 million dollars yearly for this program.
IIIa money shall be doled out by HUD.

People's House of Representatives
Passed 7-1-0-1 in the House of Representatives



People's Regional Senate
Passed 2-1-2-1 by the People's Regional Senate Assembled