The Biden Plan for Investing in Our Communities through Housing
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EMBARGOED UNTIL 5:30 AM ET MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 2020
The Biden Plan for Investing in Our Communities through Housing
Joe Biden is running for President to rebuild the middle class and ensure that this time everyone
comes along. He believes the middle class isn’t a number, but a value set which includes the
ability to own your own home and live in a safe community. Housing should be a right, not a
privilege.
Today, however, far too many Americans lack access to affordable and quality housing.
Nationwide, we have a shortage of available, affordable housing units for low-income
individuals. Tens of millions of Americans spend more than 30% of their income on housing –
leaving them with nowhere near enough money left over to meet other needs, from groceries to
prescription drugs. And, tens of millions of Americans live in homes that endanger their health
and safety.
Communities of color are disproportionately impacted by the failures in our housing markets,
with homeownership rates for Black and Latino individuals falling far below the rate for white
individuals. Because home ownership is how many families save and build wealth, these racial
disparities in home ownership contribute to the racial wealth gap. It is far past time to put an end
to systemic housing discrimination and other contributors to this disparity.
As President, Joe Biden will invest $640 billion over 10 years so every American has access to
housing that is affordable, stable, safe and healthy, accessible, energy efficient and resilient, and
located near good schools and with a reasonable commute to their jobs. Biden will do this by:
● Ending redlining and other discriminatory and unfair practices in the housing market.
● Providing financial assistance to help hard-working Americans buy or rent safe, quality
housing, including down payment assistance through a refundable and advanceable tax
credit and fully funding federal rental assistance.
● Increasing the supply, lowering the cost, and improving the quality of housing, including
through investments in resilience, energy efficiency, and accessibility of homes.
● Pursuing a comprehensive approach to ending homelessness.
Housing is an essential part of Biden’s broader strategy to grow strong, healthy communities in
every zip code – from his plan to rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and revitalize local
economies to his plan to invest in our public schools.
1The Biden Principles for Housing
While the housing challenges Americans face in different rural and urban communities across
the country may vary, every American in every zip code should have access to housing that is:
● affordable – taking up no more than 30% of income so they have money left over to
meet other needs;
● stable – providing families with the consistency they need to maintain jobs, perform
well in school, and develop social networks necessary for well-being;
● safe and healthy – protecting families from environmental and social risks from
polluted air to lead contamination to gun violence;
● accessible – meeting the needs of individuals with disabilities so they can live in their
communities;
● energy efficient and resilient – reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and
withstanding the impacts of climate change; and
● located near good schools and with a reasonable commute to their jobs.
END REDLINING AND OTHER DISCRIMINATORY AND UNFAIR PRACTICES IN
THE HOUSING MARKET
● Protect homeowners and renters from abusive lenders and landlords through a new
Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights. Modeled on the California Homeowner Bill of
Rights, Biden will enact legislation to end many shortcomings in the mortgage and rental
markets. This new Bill of Rights will prevent mortgage brokers from leading borrowers
into loans that cost more than appropriate, prevent mortgage servicers from advancing a
foreclosure when the homeowner is in the process of receiving a loan modification, give
homeowners a private right of action to seek financial redress from mortgage lenders and
servicers that violate these protections, and give borrowers the right to a timely
notification on the status of their loan modifications and to be able to appeal modification
denials. Building on the Obama-Biden Administration’s Protecting Tenants at
Foreclosure Act, the Bill of Rights will also expand protections for renters. For example,
the Bill of Rights will include a law prohibiting landlords from discriminating against
renters receiving federal housing benefits.
● Protect tenants from eviction. Housing evictions can have devastating consequences for
families and often stem from relatively small shortfalls in rent. As a former public
defender, Biden appreciates the difference legal representation can make for those facing
eviction. As President, he will work to enact Majority Whip James E. Clyburn and
Senator Michael Bennet’s Legal Assistance to Prevent Evictions Act of 2020, which will
help tenants facing eviction access legal assistance. He also will encourage localities to
create eviction diversion programs, including mediation, payment plans, and financial
literacy education programs.
● Eliminate local and state housing regulations that perpetuate discrimination.
Exclusionary zoning has for decades been strategically used to keep people of color and
low-income families out of certain communities. As President, Biden will enact
legislation requiring any state receiving federal dollars through the Community
Development Block Grants or Surface Transportation Block Grants to develop a strategy
2for inclusionary zoning, as proposed in the HOME Act of 2019 by Majority Whip
Clyburn and Senator Cory Booker. Biden will also invest $300 million in Local Housing
Policy Grants to give states and localities the technical assistance and planning support
they need to eliminate exclusionary zoning policies and other local regulations that
contribute to sprawl.
● Hold financial institutions accountable for discriminatory practices in the housing
market. The Obama-Biden Administration held major national financial institutions
accountable for discriminatory lending practices, securing hundreds of millions of dollars
in settlements to help borrowers who had been harmed by their practices. And in 2013,
the Obama-Biden Administration codified a long-standing, court-supported view that
lending practices that have a discriminatory effect can be challenged even if
discrimination was not explicit. But now the Trump Administration is seeking to gut this
disparate impact standard by significantly increasing the burden of proof for those
claiming discrimination. In the Biden Administration, this change will be reversed to
ensure financial institutions are held accountable for serving all customers.
● Strengthen and expand the Community Reinvestment Act to ensure that our
nation’s bank and non-bank financial services institutions are serving all
communities. The Community Reinvestment Act currently regulates banks, but does
little to ensure that “fintechs” and non-bank lenders are providing responsible access to
all members of the community. On top of that gap, the Trump Administration is
proposing to weaken the law by allowing lenders to receive a passing rating even if the
lenders are excluding many neighborhoods and borrowers. Biden will expand the
Community Reinvestment Act to apply to mortgage and insurance companies, to add a
requirement for financial services institutions to provide a statement outlining their
commitment to the public interest, and, importantly, to close loopholes that would allow
these institutions to avoid lending and investing in all of the communities they serve.
● Roll back Trump Administration policies gutting fair lending and fair housing
protections for homeowners. Biden will implement the Obama-Biden Administration’s
Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule requiring communities receiving certain
federal funding to proactively examine housing patterns and identify and address policies
that have a discriminatory effect. The Trump Administration suspended this rule in 2018.
Biden will ensure effective and rigorous enforcement of the Fair Housing Act and the
Home Mortgage Disclosure Act. And, he will reinstate the federal risk-sharing program
which has helped secure financing for thousands of affordable rental housing units in
partnership with housing finance agencies.
● Restore the federal government's power to enforce settlements against
discriminatory lenders. The Trump Administration has stripped the Office of Fair
Lending and Equal Opportunity, a division of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,
of its power to enforce settlements against lenders found to have discriminated against
borrowers – for example by charging significantly higher interest rates for people of color
than white individuals. Biden will return power to the division so it can protect
consumers from discrimination.
● Tackle racial bias that leads to homes in communities of color being assessed by
appraisers below their fair value. Housing in communities primarily comprised of
people of color is valued at tens of thousands of dollars below majority-white
3communities even when all other factors are the same, contributing to the racial wealth
gap. To counteract this racial bias, Biden will establish a national standard for housing
appraisals that ensures appraisers have adequate training and a full appreciation for
neighborhoods and do not hold implicit biases because of a lack of community
understanding. An objective national standard for appraisals will also make it harder for
financial institutions to put pressure on appraisers to their benefit.
PROVIDE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE TO HELP HARD-WORKING AMERICANS
BUY OR RENT QUALITY HOUSING
● Help families buy their first homes and build wealth by creating a new refundable,
advanceable tax credit of up to $15,000. Biden’s new First Down Payment Tax Credit
will help families offset the costs of homebuying and help millions of families lay down
roots for the first time. Building off of a temporary tax credit expanded as part of the
Recovery Act, this tax credit will be permanent and advanceable, meaning that
homebuyers receive the tax credit when they make the purchase instead of waiting to
receive the assistance when they file taxes the following year.
● Provide Section 8 housing vouchers to every eligible family so that no one has to pay
more than 30% of their income for rental housing. Roughly three in four households
eligible for Section 8 rental assistance do not receive housing assistance because the
program is underfunded. Biden’s approach is straightforward: the Section 8 rental
housing assistance program should be fully funded so that everyone eligible gets the
assistance they need to pay their rent for a safe home. Biden will devote resources to both
voucher-based rental assistance and the project-based program. Over time, this approach
will provide assistance to at least 17 million low-income families. And, as part of the
Homeowner and Renter Bill of Rights, Biden will enact a law prohibiting landlords from
discriminating against renters receiving federal housing benefits.
● Create a new renter’s tax credit to help more low-income families. Biden will work
with Congress to enact a new renter’s tax credit, designed to reduce rent and utilities to
30% of income for low-income individuals and families who may make too much money
to qualify for a Section 8 voucher but still struggle to pay their rent. He will allocate $5
billion in federal funding for the tax credit every year.
● Expand housing benefits for first-responders, public school educators, and other
public and national service workers who commit to living in persistently
impoverished communities or who work in neighborhoods with low affordable
housing stock. Biden will expand the Good Neighbor Next Door program, which is
designed to help strengthen communities that have experienced significant
underinvestment and high rates of poverty while also providing opportunities for first
responders, educators, and those engaged in national service to purchase homes in those
same communities. Specifically, Biden will expand the program through additional
down-payment assistance, partnering with state housing agencies, tribal governments,
local governments, and state/local banks to offer the program’s existing significant
discount on the price of a home on a larger pool of homes, and providing access to a
low-interest loan to rehabilitate these homes. And, he will ensure these resources are also
available to public servants who work in neighborhoods with low affordable housing
stock.
4● Create the Public Credit Reporting Agency. Being able to obtain a credit report is a
critical step for homeownership. But today credit reports, which are issued by just three
large private companies, are rife with problems: they often contain errors, they leave
many “credit invisible” due to the sources used to generate a credit score, and they
contribute to racial disparities. Biden will create a new public credit reporting agency
within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to provide consumers with a
government option that seeks to minimize racial disparities, for example by ensuring the
algorithms used for credit scoring don’t have a discriminatory impact, and by accepting
non-traditional sources of data like rental history and utility bills to establish credit.
Reducing Greenhouse Gases and Lowering Working Families’ Electricity Bills
As Biden announced in his climate plan, he will set a target of reducing the carbon footprint of
the U.S. building stock 50% by 2035, creating incentives for deep retrofits that combine
appliance electrification, efficiency, and on-site clean power generation. In addition to the $10
billion retrofitting fund described below, other policies he will pursue to reduce the carbon
footprint of residential buildings include:
● Directing the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to make housing
for low-income communities more efficient.
● Directing the U.S. Department of Energy to redouble efforts to accelerate new
efficiency standards for household appliances and equipment.
● Repairing and accelerating the building code process, and creating a new funding
mechanism for states and cities to adopt strict building codes and train builders and
inspectors.
Read Biden’s full plan to address the climate emergency at joebiden.com/climate.
INCREASE THE SUPPLY, LOWER THE COST, AND IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF
HOUSING
● Establish a $100 billion Affordable Housing Fund to construct and upgrade
affordable housing.
○ $65 billion in new incentives for state housing authorities and the Indian
Housing Block Grant program to construct or rehabilitate low-cost, efficient,
resilient, and accessible housing in areas where affordable housing is in short
supply. These funds will be directed toward communities that are suffering from
an affordability crisis and that are willing to implement new zoning laws that
encourage more affordable housing.
○ $10 billion to make homes more energy efficient. This retrofitting will lower
families’ energy bills, create jobs for workers in the trades in every state in the
nation, and reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.
○ $5 billion to increase the stock of affordable housing as part of larger
community development efforts. Specifically, these funds will expand the
HOME program, ensuring that the program’s requirements are more conducive to
supporting first-time homebuyers, and the Capital Magnet Fund, which spurs
5private investment in affordable housing and economic development in distressed
communities. Among other uses, localities can use these funds to purchase vacant,
underdeveloped, or underutilized property and construct affordable housing.
○ Increase funding for the Housing Trust Fund by $20 billion. Biden will
increase the availability of affordable housing through the Housing Trust Fund,
paid for by an increase in the assessment on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These
additional dollars will support the construction and rehabilitation of affordable
housing units.
● Provide tax incentives for the construction of more affordable housing in
communities that need it most. As President, Biden will expand the Low-Income
Housing Tax Credit – a tax provision designed to incentivize the construction or
rehabilitation of affordable housing for low-income tenants that has created nearly 3
million affordable housing units since the mid-1980s – with a $10 billion investment.
This investment will be designed to make the credit more efficient, dramatically
increasing the number of new or rehabilitated affordable housing units. And, he will
ensure that urban, suburban, and rural areas all benefit from the credit. Biden will also
invest in the development and rehabilitation of single family homes across distressed
urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods through the Neighborhood Homes Investment
Act.
● Invest in community development. In addition to the community development Biden is
proposing as part of his infrastructure initiative, he will also expand flexible funding for
the Community Development Block Grant by $10 billion over ten years. The Community
Development Block Grant funds local efforts to expand affordable housing, improve
infrastructure, and increase economic opportunities for low-income individuals and
communities. These funds are flexible federal grants that localities receive to deal with
their specific challenges and support stabilization and infrastructure.
● Eliminate local and state housing regulations that limit affordable housing options
and contribute to urban sprawl. Housing policy can be used as a tool to battle climate
change. Many lower- and middle-income Americans are forced to live far away from job
centers due to high housing costs, leading not only to workers being overburdened by
long commutes and transportation costs, but also to higher greenhouse gas emissions.
Biden will tie new federal investments in housing to a requirement that states and
localities eliminate regulations that reduce the availability of affordable housing and
contribute to sprawl. He will direct his Secretaries of Housing and Urban Development
and Transportation to identify existing federal grant programs that can be amended by
adding zoning reform as a requirement. And, Biden will expand investments in Local
Housing Policy Grants to give states and localities the technical assistance and planning
support they need to modernize housing regulations.
● Ensure minority-owned businesses benefit from investment in housing construction
and repair. To further support wealth creation among Black and Latino families, Biden
will require his Administration to take all available steps to make sure minority-owned
businesses are able to benefit from ongoing and new federal housing and infrastructure
spending.
6Use federal transit dollars to leverage local investment in transit and affordable housing
Smart transit and regional planning policies are essential for ensuring access to affordable
housing, avoiding sprawl, improving quality of life by reducing the distance between living
and leisure areas, and mitigating climate change. To meet these goals, Biden will ensure a
portion of new federal transit dollars are designed to leverage local investment in both transit
and affordable housing in transit corridors. Biden has proposed the following new transit
investments:
● Offer tens of millions of Americans new transportation options. Outside major
cities, most Americans do not have access to high-quality, reliable public
transportation; and within urban areas, it’s often in need of repair. As a result, workers
and families rely on cars, which can be a big financial burden, clog roadways, and –
along with light-duty trucks – significantly increase U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. As
President, Biden will aim to provide all Americans in municipalities of more than
100,000 people with quality public transportation by 2030. To that end, he’ll increase
flexible federal investments, helping cities and towns to install light rail networks and
to improve existing transit and bus lines. He’ll also help them to invest in infrastructure
for pedestrians, cyclists, and riders of e-scooters and other micro-mobility vehicles.
And, Biden will work to make sure that new, fast-growing areas are designed and built
with public transit in mind. Specifically, he will create a new program that gives
rapidly expanding communities the resources to build in public transit options from the
start.
● Reduce congestion by working with metropolitan regions to plan smarter growth.
Biden will empower city, county, regional, and state leaders to explore new, smarter,
climate-friendly strategies to help reduce average commute times and build more
vibrant main streets. Specifically, Biden will create a competitive grant program to help
leaders rethink and redesign regional transportation systems, to get commuters where
they are going safer, faster, and more efficiently. At the same time, Biden will boost
highway funding by 10% and allocate the new funding to states that embrace smart
climate design and pollution reduction, incentivizing them to invest in greenhouse gas
reduction. States will also be free to use existing highway funding for alternative
transportation options.
● Connect workers to jobs. For too many low-income workers, the cost of
transportation and time it takes them to commute to work every day are significant
barriers. As President, Biden will dedicate an additional $10 billion over 10 years
specifically for transit projects that serve high-poverty areas with limited transportation
options, so that workers seeking a better life won’t have to spend as much getting to
their jobs.
Read Biden’s full infrastructure plan at joebiden.com/infrastructure.
● Ensure rural communities have access to affordable and accessible homes. The
Biden Administration will increase funding for needed repairs of affordable rental
housing properties and construction of new property through the U.S. Department of
7Agriculture’s Rural Housing Service, including the Multi-Family Direct Loans and the
Single Family Direct Loans programs, which support the construction of housing for low
income, disabled, or elderly individuals in rural communities. Majority Whip Clyburn’s
10-20-30 plan has already been applied to a number of Rural Development programs in
order to ensure a portion of funds are dedicated to serving families living in areas facing
persistent poverty. As President, Biden will apply the 10-20-30 plan to all federal
programs.
● Expand funding for mission-driven, community-based financial institutions that
invest in building new housing in underserved areas. As part of his plan to reinvest in
communities across the country, including in rural areas, Biden will expand funding for
the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which supports local,
“mission-driven” financial institutions in low-income areas around the U.S. – including
those invested in building new housing in underserved areas.
● Drive additional capital into low-income communities to spur the development of
low-income housing. The New Markets Tax Credit has drawn in $8 of private
investment for every $1 of federal investment in low-income communities by providing
tax credits to investors in community development organizations that support everything
from supermarkets to real estate projects to manufacturing plants. Biden will expand the
program to provide $5 billion in support every year, and will make the program
permanent so communities can take the credit into account in their long-term planning.
For all of these new housing investments, those receiving assistance will be required to abide by
Davis-Bacon Act wage requirements so that jobs created with these investments support family
sustaining wages and benefits. And, the Biden Administration will encourage the use of
resources and materials that are sourced domestically, as well as the use of project labor
agreements.
Guarantee safe housing for our military families
The government has broken its trust with military families by providing sub-par housing. Now,
we have to work twice as hard to rebuild this trust. That will require the utmost transparency
and accountability from both the government and the private sector partners charged with
housing the families of our service members. The Biden Administration will:
● Enforce a comprehensive and standardized tenant Bill of Rights for all military
families, and as advocates have rightly demanded, ensure U.S. Department of Defense
senior leadership enforces compliance. We won’t be making more empty promises to
military families. We will hold these landlords, and ourselves, accountable.
● Require regular, standardized, objective, and published reporting of military family
satisfaction and concerns from all housing.
● Establish a public-facing document outlining expectations of quality and consequences
for all housing providers and, when necessary, terminate long-term leases held by
private companies.
Read Biden’s full plan for military families at joebiden.com/militaryfamilies.
8PURSUE A COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH TO ENDING HOMELESSNESS
● Develop a national strategy for making housing a right for all. Biden believes
everyone should have the right to a safe roof over their head. On the first day of his
Administration, he will direct his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to lead a
task force of mayors and other local elected officials to put on his desk within 100 days a
roadmap for making this right a reality nationwide. Mayors and local elected officials are
on the front lines of tackling homelessness, so Biden will use their expertise to help the
federal government identify best practices that should be replicated across the country.
● Provide emergency funding designed to tackle the homelessness crisis. Biden will
work with Congress to secure passage of Congresswoman Maxine Waters’ Ending
Homelessness Act. This bill funds a comprehensive, holistic strategy to ending
homelessness, including everything from case management to emergency shelters to
additional housing vouchers for homeless individuals. In total, this law will invest $13
billion to tackle homelessness over five years, including $5 billion for McKinney-Vento
Homeless Assistance Grants, and the law will create more than 400,000 additional
housing units for homeless individuals. In addition, Biden will ensure part of this grant
funding is specifically targeted to assist homeless children and young adults.
● Reform federal housing programs to ensure they take a “housing first” approach to
ending homelessness. The Trump Administration has demonstrated acceptance of a
worldview that housing and food should be withheld until homeless individuals tackle
challenges such as addiction and mental illness. This view isn’t just inhumane, it defies
the evidence regarding what works. More and more evidence is making clear that a
“housing first” approach – “guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like
food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job,
budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues” – is an effective strategy for
reducing homelessness. So, while the Biden Administration will pursue a comprehensive
strategy addressing homelessness’ underlying causes – from making sure everyone has
access to quality mental health and addiction support, to increasing the minimum wage
and expanding workforce training, to changing the culture so more LGBTQ teenagers are
accepted in their homes – President Biden will make sure our country commits to a
“housing first” approach to ending homelessness. In his first 100 days, Biden will direct
his Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to conduct a full review of federal
housing policies to make sure they pursue and incentivize the “housing first” approach.
The Secretary will identify all ways in which homelessness assistance grants can further
support rapid re-housing and long-term supportive housing. Supportive housing has been
found to have positive long-term impacts, and rapid re-housing has been shown to lead to
quick exits from homelessness.
● Reduce homelessness among veterans. The Obama-Biden Administration cut the
population of homeless veterans by almost half. But with just over 23,000 veterans
without shelter on any given night, we have much more work to do. Biden will work with
Congress to continue to drive down veteran homelessness by permanently authorizing the
Supportive Services for Veterans Families program, which provides critical funding for
wrap-around services for those facing homelessness. President Biden will also work to
ensure that we better understand the unique needs of women and LGBTQ veterans
experiencing homelessness. And, he will create safe, modern, clean, and
9recovery-oriented housing for veterans being treated for substance use disorders and
those who are homeless by refurbishing buildings condemned or not in use, such as the
massive VA Los Angeles campus. Read Biden’s full plan to support our veterans at
joebiden.com/veterans.
● Protect LGBTQ individuals. The Obama-Biden Administration enforced the civil rights
of the LGBTQ community, including by ensuring federally funded homeless shelters
provide housing according to an individual’s gender identity and cannot refuse services
based on gender identity or sexual orientation. The Trump Administration has since
proposed allowing shelters to discriminate against transgender people when determining
their accommodations, for example by forcing transgender women to sleep and use the
bathroom in the same place as men. As President, Biden will secure the passage of the
Equality Act, ensuring that no President can ever again single-handedly roll back civil
rights protections for LGBTQ individuals, including in housing and homeless shelters.
And, he will increase funding for the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act to ensure
LGBTQ individuals have access to transitional living programs that provide essential
services like job counseling and mental and physical health care.
● Expand access to supportive housing and services for individuals with disabilities
and the elderly. A Biden Administration will increase the availability of supportive and
accessible housing for seniors and individuals with disabilities, including through the
Supportive Housing for the Elderly (“Section 202”) and Supportive Housing for
Individuals with Disabilities (“Section 811”) programs. Biden also will increase
resources for mental health services and substance use disorder treatment, including
through the Projects for Assistance in Transition from Homelessness program.
● Set a national goal of ensuring 100% of formerly incarcerated individuals have
housing upon reentry. If incarcerated individuals do not find housing upon reentry, that
lack of housing can be completely destabilizing and limit their likelihood of successfully
staying out of the criminal justice system and fulfilling their potential. Biden will work
toward a goal of ensuring 100% of formerly incarcerated individuals – at the federal and
state level – have housing upon release. He’ll start by eliminating barriers keeping
formerly incarcerated individuals from accessing public assistance, including housing
support. He’ll direct the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to only
contract with entities that are open to housing individuals looking for a second chance.
And, he’ll expand funding for transitional housing, which has been drastically cut under
the Trump Administration.
Ensure survivors of domestic and sexual violence have safe, affordable housing
Biden has put forward a comprehensive plan to strengthen social supports for survivors of
domestic and sexual violence and human trafficking, including helping victims secure housing,
gain economic stability, and recover from the trauma of abuse. The U.S. Conference of
Mayors has identified domestic violence as a top driver of family homelessness, and research
points to domestic violence as a key cause of homelessness for many women. And, domestic
violence survivors and their children often live in unstable housing conditions, such as with
relatives or friends in crowded and potentially exploitative conditions or returning to abusive
10partners. Research demonstrates that providing flexibility in eligibility, services, and support
helps survivors feel safer and rebuild their lives after violence.
The Biden plan will cut through the red tape that can slow down assistance and limit options
for survivors. Specifically, Biden will:
● Establish a new coordinated housing initiative. Current federal housing programs
are insufficient for meeting the needs of domestic and sexual violence survivors. Biden
will bring federal agencies together to create a comprehensive housing grant program
tailored to survivors of domestic and sexual violence. This grant program will include
flexible funding to support the practical needs of survivors; advocacy with landlords
and housing agencies to keep victims in housing; supportive services including legal
assistance, child care, and employment training; new permanent housing vouchers;
increased funding for the VAWA transitional housing program; and home ownership
opportunities.
● Expand access to housing assistance. Biden will strengthen the VAWA housing
provisions, for example by making it easier for victims to retain their federal housing
subsidy when needed for safety reasons.
● Protect survivors from housing discrimination. The Fair Housing Act protects
women from gender discrimination in public and private housing, including survivors
who may be unfairly evicted from housing because of domestic violence. The Trump
Administration proposed rolling back Fair Housing protections by making it harder to
prove disparate impact claims and allowing landlords and banks to use discriminatory
practices. The Biden Administration will vigorously enforce the Fair Housing Act.
VAWA also protects survivors from discrimination in subsidized housing and allows
survivors to transfer to new units if necessary for safety. But red tape makes these
provisions challenging to implement. The Biden plan will make it easier for survivors
to transfer their housing assistance and move to a new home so that they can be safe.
Read Biden’s full plan to end violence against women at joebiden.com/VAWA.
Investing In Our Housing to Grow the Middle Class, Paid for by Making Sure Corporations
Pay Their Fair Share
Biden’s $640 billion investment in America’s housing is paid for by raising taxes on
corporations and large financial institutions. Specifically, approximately $300 billion of the
housing plan is devoted to new construction and is encompassed in the $1.3 trillion infrastructure
plan. The remaining portion is paid for by instituting a financial fee on certain liabilities of firms
with over $50 billion in assets.
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