opinion

Joe Biden and Alma Adams: Affordable housing shouldn't just be a dream in WNC | OPINION

This campaign is about restoring the soul of the nation. It’s about moving away from our broken politics, and rebuilding and expanding the middle class, because working Americans have always been the backbone of our country.

That’s why good, affordable housing is so important to us. It’s how most families in our country build wealth. The promise of a home, the most significant investment most families will ever make, is an essential part of the American dream. Restoring the hope of home ownership is essential to making sure that dream is in reach for every American family and to lifting more people into the middle class.

However, we can’t ignore the fact that housing is a dream that has been deferred over and over again for communities of color. Segregation, redlining, predatory lending, and more are not only responsible for different rates of home ownership between black and white Americans; they’re responsible for contributing to the wealth gap as well. These policies didn’t happen by accident. They were specific choices designed to target and disadvantage people of color in this country.

We have a moral responsibility to push proactive policies today to tackle systemic racism in our society.

The Biden housing plan is centered in the belief that housing should be a right for everyone, not a privilege. That was essential to both of us when we began discussing housing policy. Neither of us grew up wealthy: when Joe was a kid, his father struggled to find work and had to move their family to Delaware. Alma was the first person in her family to go to college, and she was only able to make it because her single mother cleaned houses to help pay for tuition. We both know how important affordable, stable housing is to building a life of opportunity and getting ahead.

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 percent of their income on housing – leaving them with nowhere near enough money to meet other needs: keeping the lights on, putting gas in the tank and food on the table, buying school supplies and prescription drugs, or any number of daily necessities.

Charlotte has done heroic work to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to address Mecklenburg County’s housing and social mobility crisis, but there’s still a shortage of approximately 30,000 affordable housing units, and private philanthropy on it’s own is not enough to end systemic housing discrimination and close the wealth gap faced by African American and Latino families.

More: Affordable housing in Asheville: How is it defined and how much is rent?

The federal government - in partnership with state and local leaders - must play a leading role. According to a 2015 report, Asheville desperately needs nearly 5,600 affordable housing units, as Western North Carolina’s rapidly-growing tourism industry continues to drive up demand and prices for housing. Even recent actions like Asheville’s hotel construction moratorium and proposed policy changes like reallocating tourism spending towards housing won’t solve Asheville’s housing crisis without federal or state help.

That’s why the Biden plan to invest in our communities through housing commits $640 billion over 10 years to help ensure every American has access to housing that is affordable, stable, safe and healthy, accessible, energy efficient and resilient. Every American deserves housing that is located near good schools with a reasonable commute to their job.

We put together this plan by talking to people in North Carolina who are on the front lines of the housing crisis. Joe reached out not only to Alma, but also to the chair of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Planning Commission. Unlike Mike Bloomberg, Joe has fought throughout his career to end redlining and other discriminatory and unfair practices in the housing market, and the Biden housing plan will end these practices permanently. Joe also understands that owning a home is the most important investment most families will make, so this plan provides a $15,000 advanceable tax credit to help first-time home buyers with their down payment. This plan also increases the supply, lowers the cost, and improves the quality of housing including through investments in resilience, energy efficiency, and accessibility of homes. And, like many great nonprofits in Charlotte that have moved to a housing first approach, it pursues a comprehensive policy to end homelessness.

More: Almost half of Buncombe County renters are cost burdened. Can local leaders close the gap?

Encouraging and supporting home ownership is one of the key parts of the plan, but for folks who aren’t yet ready to buy a house, one of the concerns we heard over and over again was about source-of-income discrimination. This plan fights discrimination by expanding funding for Section 8 housing vouchers and making it illegal to turn away people who want to use the vouchers to find a home.

It’s going to take a lot of work to address the housing crisis, whether in North Carolina or at the federal level, but we have to get it done if we’re going to move this country forward. We are ready to work together and alongside everyone who cares about these issues, starting on day one of a Biden Administration, to get to work creating opportunity for everyone and to make real, affordable housing a reality for all Americans.

Joe Biden was the 47th vice president of the United States and is seeking the Democratic nomination for president.

Congresswoman Alma Adams represents North Carolina's 12th congressional district in the US House of Representatives.