While praising the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) is urging Congress to focus on housing as a key driver of inflation to create equitable opportunities for communities of color and rural parts of the nation.
The act addresses climate change, tax and healthcare features, and authorizes $1 billion to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for loans and grants to projects that improve energy or water efficiency, enhance indoor air quality or support other climate-mitigating housing initiatives.
“Rising housing costs are a major contributor to growing national inflation, and ongoing residential segregation puts people of color at greater risk of suffering harm from pollution and accelerating climate change,” said Nikitra Bailey, NFHA’s executive vice president. “It’s a toxic mix, and Congress can alleviate the economic pressures and health and social costs it imposes on families by adopting a more expansive and ambitious approach to comprehensive inflation-fighting measures that recognizes the role that housing costs are playing in all of this.”
“Where you live matters and is one of the best predictors of health and well-being,” she said. “We urge Congress to build upon this major step and now focus on delivering equitable legislation that will reduce the cost of housing and increase housing and neighborhood opportunity for all Americans, especially Black, Latino, AAPI, Native, lower-income, women-led and LBGTQ+ households that face the disproportionate harms of the housing affordability crisis and worsening climate change.”
Specifically, NFHA urges Congress to:
Cover Story: