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Comment

I have worked in affordable housing finance for the past 10 years, and have seen how shocks to the lending market can control the ability to produce housing in our current ecosystem, which is largely reliant on public-private partnerships. Capital dictates most decisions in this sphere - and tenants need support to realize, maintain, and defend their rights. The last few years made this very clear; with programs supporting income and preventing eviction, families are more likely to remain stably housed.

America's response and ongoing recovery from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and public health crisis have highlighted that we know the answers to some of the most complicated questions of alleviating poverty; we just choose not to implement these solutions with the resources that we have. This is an inflection point to reflect on the massive programs the country rolled out - and that states and localities quickly designed, promoted, and implemented - and the ways in which we found we could care for each other. Our call is to capitalize on this momentum and these success stories to continue to provide the kind of income support that families most need in order to succeed on their own terms.