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19 million renters in the USA qualify for housing assistance, but only a quarter of them receive that assistance, and 1 in 25 of them become homeless every year because of poverty.

Building more housing is a strategy that can help a little bit, but it's expensive and it takes a long time. King County in Washington State implemented a five-year plan to build 44,000 units. At 4.2 years into the project, only 3,417 units have been built. It's too difficult for small local housing authorities to solve this problem on their own.

14 million cost-burdened renters are already living in apartments they can't afford (that's 936,260 in Washington State). They might become homeless the next time they're late on their rent. They need a rent subsidy now to prevent that from happening. We must enact the following national changes to the Housing Choice Voucher program as soon as possible, and failing that we must take control of our own State voucher programs to:

*Make vouchers available to everyone whose income qualifies them
*Have vouchers pay market rates locally
*Implement a national or State law prohibiting housing discrimination based on income source
*Provide ongoing wraparound supportive social work and tenant coaching
*Extend landlord incentives like help with unit repairs and tenant/landlord communication facilitation

The federal office of Housing and Urban Development has been working with the department of Veteran's Affairs to provide a similar strategy to an additional 10 thousand veterans more every year since 2008, with a long-term success rate of 93%, even though unhoused veterans can be some of the hardest to house due to mental illness and substance abuse disorders. Making these changes will drastically decrease the effects of institutional racism, childhood poverty, gentrification, and ghettofication, and increase neighborhood diversity and long-term cohesion. It will also allow thousands or millions more poor people to buy homes and build generational wealth, since vouchers can be used to pay mortgages and property taxes. And providing this boost of income to the housing market will encourage private investors to build more.

Please sign and share this petition, and email to Joe Biden and Jay Inslee and your State Governor, to show them that we're serious about ending homelessness!