WASHINGTON, DC –Pennsylvania U.S. Senator John Fetterman today introduced legislation to ensure long-term housing affordability. The Keep Affordable Housing in Forgotten Communities Act would encourage plans for long-term housing affordability as part of the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods grant program, ensuring that revitalizing efforts benefit longtime community members. Fetterman says that these critical revitalizing efforts need to happen in these communities, but they must also include housing opportunities for the people who have long called these places home. Infrastructure policy needs to incorporate housing considerations from day one and the plans should prioritize models that keep housing affordable for existing residents. The Keep Affordable Housing in Forgotten Communities Act would help grant recipients looking to redevelop community-severing infrastructure for new uses to consider the impact on housing. They would be able to evaluate the impact of the project on workforce housing in the neighborhood, and use funds to plan for long-term affordability, create or preserve long-term affordable housing units in the neighborhood, and support the creation or expansion of Community Land Trusts or CLTs.
SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN