Advocacy

Our Recommendations to the Biden-Harris Administration

Our nation is in the midst of a long overdue national conversation about housing. The economic devastation of COVID-19 and a reckoning on police brutality have further exposed a system rife with race, gender, and other discrimination. We are advocating that the Biden-Harris Administration act on what housing advocates have been saying for years: our federal housing system is broken, and it’s time for a renewed commitment to just and effective housing policy that serves tenants and improves outcomes for low-income households and communities of color.

With the National Housing Law Project’s more than 50 years of experience fighting for housing justice and strengthening federal law and programs, and informed by the strong network of legal aid and housing justice attorneys across the country, we have created a series of policy papers for the presidential transition team.

Take a look at some of our ideas below. This is not a comprehensive list but it includes some of the top issues NHLP works on. Also included below are important papers from other entities.

Analysis of The White House Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights – NHLP supports the White House’s efforts to strengthen tenant protections and recognizes that much more needs to be done to see concrete changes in the rental market and in tenants’ lives.
Enact a Broad Eviction Moratorium – NHLP, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), and Eviction Lab recommend a broader, more protective order from the CDC on Day One of the Biden-Harris Administration.
End the U.S. Evictions Crisis – NHLP proposes a federal response that will minimize the number of evictions occurring, and will mitigate the lasting effects of evictions.
Expand and Improve Federal Housing Voucher Programs – NHLP recommends generous increases in funding from congress, policies that make vouchers competitive and usable in rental markets, and improvements to the mobility and choice opportunities for voucher holders.
Preserve and Expand Federal Housing Programs – The Biden-Harris Administration needs to demonstrate a commitment to federal housing programs – representing approximately 8.4 million units of affordable housing in this country – to restore the promise of a housing safety net.
Strengthen Tenants’ Rights – NHLP has developed a proposal for baseline uniform tenants’ rights and incentives for states to better protect their tenants.
Reform Opportunity Zones – Based on the Biden-Harris “Build Back Better” commitment to racial equity, NHLP recommends sweeping reforms to the Opportunity Zones that will benefit investment communities and their residents.
Rollback and Reform Housing Regulations – NHLP has compiled a list of proposed regulatory reforms for HUD programs aimed at strengthening tenants’ rights and preserving federal affordable housing. The list also includes a list of rollbacks necessary to repair the damage inflicted on our housing systems in the past 4 years.

Important recommendations from other entities:

Family Farm Action: Our Call to Action and Roadmap for Rural America
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights: Civil Rights Coalition Priorities
National Immigration Law Center: Freedom to Thrive: Priorities on Executive Action on Immigration in 2021
National Low Income Housing Coalition: Opportunities to End Homelessness and Achieve Housing Justice in a Biden Administration
Opportunity Starts at Home: Solving the Nation’s Rental Housing Affordability Crisis
U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services: Letter and Trump Administration Actions to Reverse