Housing
Affordable Housing is Key to a Strong Economy and a Healthy Community
Senator Reed is working hard to help stabilize the real estate market for homeowners, renters, and businesses so our economy can recover.
Reed has long championed efforts to make affordable rental housing options available to more Americans, and wrote the law creating an affordable housing trust fund to build, preserve, and rehabilitate affordable rental homes.
As the New York Times noted: “Mr. Reed has had a passion for housing issues throughout his career. Beginning in the early 1980s when, as a young lawyer, he did pro bono work for Amos House, a Providence soup kitchen and social service agency, and continuing after his election to the Rhode Island Assembly, the House and finally the Senate.”
Read More »He has also been a champion of fixing America’s broken foreclosure process. In an effort to protect consumers and hold banks and servicers accountable for providing relief to qualified homeowners, Reed introduced the Preserving Homes and Communities Act. This bill would establish a clear set of rules and procedures in order to prevent more faulty foreclosures and to protect troubled borrowers who have been misled into expecting loan modifications that never materialized.
Key Priorities & Accomplishments
- Reed helped preserve the low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC), a program that has helped construct nearly 12,500 units of affordable rental housing in Rhode Island and generated over $100 million in revenue for cities, towns, and the state.
- To help bolster Rhode Island’s economy and provide qualified homeowners with additional resources to prevent foreclosures, Senator Reed has secured over $105 million in federal foreclosure prevention funds through the Hardest Hit program, which is administered by Rhode Island Housing, and Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds.
- 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 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. Since 1998, Senator Reed has helped secure over $40 million for Rhode Island lead poisoning prevention programs.
The Latest
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Reed Seeks to Help Responsible Homeowners Refinance
U.S. Senator Jack Reed today joined with Senators Robert Menendez and Barbara Boxer in introducing a bill to help millions of responsible homeowners refinance at lower rates and save thousands of dollars each year. “We need to fix the housing market and do everything w...
Posted on 5/10/2012 | -
RI to Receive Additional $634,000 in Foreclosure Prevention Funds
PROVIDENCE, RI - U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today announced that Rhode Island will receive an additional $634,342 in federal funding to continue providing housing counseling to struggling Rhode Islanders through NeighborWorks America’s National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (N...
Posted on 3/22/2012 | -
Reed Announces $239,000 in Housing Counseling Assistance
PROVIDENCE, RI - In an effort to help Rhode Islanders find suitable housing and avoid foreclosure scams, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today announced that Rhode Island is receiving $239,813 in federal housing counseling funds. Rhode Island Housing will receive $221,264 and the...
Posted on 3/16/2012 | -
Reed Announces $1.3 Million to Help RI Homeless
PROVIDENCE, RI - In an effort to help Rhode Islanders meet their housing needs, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today announced that three local Rhode Island homeless programs will receive $1.31 million in new federal Continuum of Care funding. This new funding will help provide safe, afford...
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Reed Questions Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke On Economic Recovery
Posted on 3/2/2012 | -
Reed Probes Federal Official On Homeowner Loans
Posted on 2/28/2012 | -
Reed Identifies Tool to Help Underwater Homeowners
Posted on 2/28/2012 |
