Housing

A Strong Housing Sector is Key to a Healthy Economy and Flourishing Communities

Senator Reed is working hard to help stabilize the real estate market, especially for renters and businesses, so Rhode Island’s economy can continue to recover.

Reed has long championed efforts to make rental housing options available to more Americans and wrote the law creating a trust fund to build, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable rental apartments. He also serves as Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, which authors the funding for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).

In addition to the cost of rentals in Rhode Island, Reed has focused on preventing foreclosures, ending homelessness, supporting the redevelopment of blighted communities, cleaning up lead-based paint in homes, weatherizing and retrofitting homes to be more energy efficient, and ensuring healthier, more livable communities.

KEY PRIORITIES & ACCOMPLISHMENTS

In 2010, Reed helped write key sections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and directed it to implement major reforms in the mortgage industry.
To help bolster Rhode Island’s economy and provide qualified homeowners with additional resources to prevent foreclosures, Senator Reed secured $79 million in federal foreclosure prevention funds through the Hardest Hit program, which was administered by Rhode Island Housing, and more than $25 million in funding for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program.
To help communities nationwide reduce homelessness, Senator Reed wrote and passed the bipartisan Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing (HEARTH) Act. This law simplified and consolidated competitive Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) homelessness assistance programs and allowed more funding to flow to communities that demonstrate a commitment to preventing and ending homelessness.
Reed increased funding to remove lead-based paint from homes, educate families about the dangers of lead poisoning, and train inspectors and workers to identify lead contamination in housing. Senator Reed has helped secure over $47 million for Rhode Island lead poisoning prevention programs.
Senator Reed introduced the Family Self-Sufficiency Act, a bipartisan bill that enhances and expands the reach of the existing HUD Family Self-Sufficiency program, which helps families enrolled in housing voucher or public housing programs increase their earnings, build savings, and make progress toward self-sufficiency. Part of this bill become law through other legislation.
Reed introduced the HAVEN Act, which is bipartisan legislation to create a competitive pilot program for non-profit organizations to help make home repairs and accessibility improvements for disabled or low-income veterans.

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