Oregon’s housing crisis has many faces, from homeless encampments in our cities, to families trying to reestablish their lives after being displaced by wildfires, to the less visible but no less urgent reality of people living in a vehicle or on the couches of friends and family. In our coastal communities, short stay rentals from corporations like Airbnb make the problems even worse. The high cost of housing across this district prevents businesses from recruiting workers and pinches working families. A huge part of the problem stems from decades of the federal government having completely abandoned its responsibilities on public and affordable housing. As our next member of Congress, Val will:
- Fight for major investments in new public housing in the communities hardest hit by the affordable housing shortage, including workforce housing.
- Shift tax policies that subsidize the wealthy toward creating more opportunities for first-time home ownership.
- Get the federal government to recognize homelessness as a crisis to mobilize resources.
- Strengthen the enforcement of fair housing laws.
