The sunday before, we had the. Omens drop in announcer confined this coverage online at cspan. Org. We will take you live to an indepth preview of the second day of the Republican National convention. This could affect many more in the next few months. That is Affordable Housing. Americans go to the polls and many will feel the economic fallout of the covid crisis. Mass evictions are looming and americans are devoting more of their dwindling salaries to monthly housing costs. As these problems persist Affordable Housing is a growing concern, one that could be a factor in the elections. We are going to take a look at the policy measures that can be put into place to ensure all americans, especially those who are vulnerable, have access to affordable homes. I would like to thank the Enterprise Community partners for their support of the event. We have a fantastic lineup of speakers. Two mayors from very different advocates and housing experts. Thehillevents us hillhousing2020. As with any livestream you could experience trouble with the video. The refresh should fix the problem. My first guest is john giles. He has paid close attention to homelessness in his city, especially on those of the veterans. He is focused on his next mesa vision. It is a pleasure to have you. I do not know what to call this room i am in so im going to lair. Ct the hill they. Com has called mesa best big city in the southwest. What is on the top of your dashboard . Where does Affordable Housing for in your priority list and being dubbed the best big city in the southwest . Country the whole the health and safety of our community is paramount. For a city to be successful, we strive to be able to walk and chew gum at the same time. It is nice to take whatever the issue is and figure out how you can have a longterm legacy impact. Focused on the health and safety of our community. Prior to covid hitting Affordable Housing was at the top of our list of priorities. City and a new city, a big city and a small city all at the same time. We sit next to the fifthlargest city in the United States which is phoenix. We have an aging downtown and brandnew parts of the city that are developing. We try to juggle priorities and do as much as we can at the same time. On the issue of Affordable Housing, the reason i mentioned we are an older city is we have been adding light Rail Connection between phoenix and downtown for the last few years. To do a lotowed us of redevelopment. In the course of bringing a light rail to downtown we have been able to add over 3700 Affordable Housing units, typerily tax credit opposing housing that has increased inventory of Affordable Housing. That has also laid the foundation for a lot of market rate housing to come along the light rail route. The city of mesa administers a letter federal funds tied to rent subsidies and voucher programs. Over 13 million a year and as we havecovid outreach allocated over 3 million to go into rental Assistance Programs specifically aimed at getting Homeless Individuals who are at risk during the pandemic into housing where they can get wraparound services. 85 city of mesa is spending motel rooms a night aimed at getting the Homeless Population into programs and facilities where we can work with them and ultimately get them into permanent housing. Carsonw the ben commended you and the city for working with Law Enforcement to get Homeless People into these apartments. Fascinating this was on secretary carsons dashboard. You talked about taking some of the cares act money that mesa received and making this a priority. Im going to ask you a complicated question. We heard tugofwar points over these issues and we heard it last night. Do these communities, do these efforts, become points of pride or do they become, the necessary burden that folks are not that thrilled with . Do you know what i am saying . The answer is yes. You get pushback with anything mesa is at i think Compassionate Community and always been part of our dna to be very involved in supporting the nonprofits and to be a regional leader. A lot of neighboring communities we end up doing a lot of nonprofit work centered in mesa and has a Ripple Effect throughout the region. There is some Community Pride attached to that legacy that we have. Get, i think it makes us better. We have to be able to defend the reasons behind a lot of the good things we do and so that has helped us be frugal and effective in the way we are stewards of the cares act spending. But also the efforts we make creating permanent Affordable Housing. Wheref the neighborhoods have built the projects they think we are tried to concentrate property and that and that has been a great conversation to have. It has allowed us to put Affordable Housing throughout the community. I am fascinated with how cities grow, evolve, basically take on new character. I interviewed mayor bowser recently about her Affordable Housing project. Washington has been such an expensive place to live. The gentrification has been so large and that is a sign of success. You have got to kind of plan and make this happen. Leader, how, a city to get ahead of this . How do you build in the notion Affordable Housing is a natural and healthy part and moving people through opportunity somehow gets the city to be it is about sustainability, right . Yes. You do have to have a cogent story to tell. As i described earlier the situation where, in the early stages of the light rail along the corridor, there was affordable pieces of property that could be acquired for Affordable Housing. The longterm plan was, yes, we are going to anchor these Affordable Housing projects along the corridor because transit is an important Apartment BuildingAffordable Housing, but the plan is that as the ships in the harbor rise and the Property Values in this area ultimately, we want to have a mix of housing. We want to have diversity in housing. That was the story we have been telling the last several years and it takes exercising faith that the government is going to deliver on that plane. For example, the six mile stretch of light rail is not going to be exclusively Affordable Housing. Seekfully, we are able to we have over 2000 units of market rate housing coming in along the light rail corridor because that is Affordable Housing. I think that gives us credibility with the community. People can see it was not a bait and switch or we were not exaggerating what the citys plans were, offering excuses to get Affordable Housing into communities. Now i am anxious to deliver to a related challenge which is billed Affordable Housing throughout the community and other parts of our city where we have substandard housing we want to replace with Affordable Housing projects. You do have to have a coherent plan and you have to deliver so you can maintain the trust of the community. I have become better read on your twitter feed, which i have been enjoying, but one of them the caught my eye was you retreating new rent and mortgage relief plans. This is part of an arizona grant plan. I do not know how hard mesa has been hit by covid. I do not know how many businesses have been suspended or paralyzed. I imagine it is like the rest of the country. You have got folks that are getting unemployment or struggling with that and may not be able to pay rent. Moratoriums on evictions right now, but when you look at that equation what is this Assistance Program doing and are you worried that when the moratoriums ife there will be an avalanche that will hit your committee . Statewideere is a eviction and foreclosure moratorium in effect. But that is going to lapse in october. We are hunkering down and getting ready for the storm we think we are going to experience. Ono, there is a moratorium shutting off utility services. That has created an equal problem in that we have delinquencies in our utility accounts that are starting to become very problematic. When the extreme heat in arizona is over and the utility providers can no longer justify their forbearance and turning off the electricity for health reasons, we are going to see a lot of problems. We are trying to budget out some covid assistance money for utility assistance to try and retire some of those delinquencies, but also getting ready for the onslaught of rental assistance claims we are going to have when the moratorium is lifted. We are concerned about it, but we are trying to plan ahead and anticipate the best. Are these tensions you talked about your community being a Compassionate Community. Those words struck me. We have economic hardship, hardship over racial and economic divides, concerns about police brutality, and we have a health crisis. When you have all of those elements of a storm hitting so many places in the country are you finding any things about mesa and how you are interacting with the public to be on a healthier track than the other things we are seeing in the nation . I am proud of our community. I am proud of the way they have responded to this challenge. We aret know if tolerating things better or worse than other communities, because im so focused on mesa, but i think we all need to admit to ourselves that this is very hard. Communityen in our and families in our community in mesa we brag about our humility which is an ironic way of saying our attitude here is we shut up and put our head down and get things done. That is probably a characteristic that is not uncommon in other communities. I think occasionally it is important to take a pause and say, wait a minute, this is really hard and we need to be aware of the toll this is taking on the mental and Emotional Health of our community, particularly the children. Right now mesa, like probably the rest of the country, is struggling with this issue of what we need . What is the responsible answer to sending kids back to school . Emotional and Mental Health is really suffering with the lack of interaction and they lack of academic challenges, but at the same time we have to be responsible about exposing the adult to health risks. We are really on the horns of a dilemma like the rest of the country tried to figure out what is the responsible balance to strike on the school issue. Yes, it has been hard for Small Business people. It has been hard for everyone to be under quarantine. All of the great summer programs that are typically involved mesa usually has an amazing Summer Aquatics Program and thousands of kids are using city time. And it is a fun all of that has been taken away. Program, auge arts worldclass arts center, and it is shuttered. Yeslibraries, similarly, so we are tough and resilient, and compassionate, but i think occasionally we need to acknowledge how hard this is and make sure we are addressing those emotional and Mental Health needs. Thank you. We have a question from the audience. Jude . Jude and i am the outreach manager for habitat of humanity in kansas city. My question is does the Republican Party have a comprehensive plan to address Affordable Housing issues in the nation . What are the specific proposals for addressing Affordable Housing needs . Mayor . Well, i am a republican but not part of the republican platform drafting apparatus. I can tell you that my understanding is absolutely. Ke Republican Party has a en eye for the obvious and we know that Affordable Housing is a big issue. State offor the arizona and the city of mesa, we do have an aggressive Affordable Housing plan here. We have a master plan that we opted that has a strategic game plan for how we can address the stresses we are experiencing, with the fact we are a Fast Growing Community particularly the capital a Affordable Housing and lower a Affordable Housing. Building the midst of a lot of new housing. A lot of it is multifamily housing for the workforce. We are actively working with partners on tax credits, affordable, subsidized housing. As i indicated earlier mesa and ministers 13 million in subsidies each year and over the past several months we added a few Million Dollars to that in covid related subsidies. Mayor, i appreciate the deep dive into this. I have been to mesa, arizona and i am looking forward to get it back. I love the backdrop and the cactuses that are a tease. Thank you for the tease. Thank you. I would love to have you. Mesa is a great place to visit. Thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you. My next guest is from a state that gets a lot of attention during a president ial election. Perhaps the most important state out there, and particularly with conventions. Andmayor of Miami Florida his most recent efforts are the called for the refurbishment of Affordable Housing in the next four years. I am glad you are back to health. We had a conversation that you have gone through covid personally and see what happened in your community. We have talked before but i want to say i was reading up on the things you have been doing, not only refurbishing houses, but you were involved with passing reverse redline legislation that was designed to undo the bad decisions that have been tied to systemic racism. I wanted to start with this because it seems like a big deal. Tell me what went on and what you are dismantling. What went on was we sued and wereon the big banks that reverse redlining. They would dry redline around the map and would not lend into areas that were typically africanamerican, typically theverished, and now in last mortgage crisis we see reverse redlining witches they were lending in those areas, but toding on more onerous terms minorities. You could compare credit profiles, income, these were all objective measurements. That case went to the u. S. Supreme court in the u. S. Supreme court held we could sue the big banks. The objective was to make sure that discriminatory lending practices are not something that continue to perpetuate racism in our community, and particularly when it comes to Financial Decisions such as buying a home which is, in many cases, the most expensive, the single largest purchase somebody makes. Mayor, what are the Building Blocks as you see it today as you deal with some of the hits your community has taken economically and through health . How do you keep the Affordable Housing picture in it considering your revenues have had a tough time . I am interested in what that map looks like of how you take care of the most vulnerable communities, keep that in the picture, while you have other challenges happening. It is definitely difficult. We have been hit very hard like many cities. We had a surplus going into covid and now a 25 million deficit for this year and a 30 million deficit for next year. We are hoping Congress Acts to help. We are blessed to have a general Obligation Bond which is called miami forever and part of that bond 100 million is for Affordable Housing. We have some resources we can nd two help deal with this it is another pandemic. This need for Economic Equity in our community and government cannot solve all the problems, but we can do what we can. That was a voter pro bond that allowed us to spend 100 million. That will be tax credit deals, homeownership deals so people can build equity in their committees, and i am working with the elected officials to program the spending of those funds in a way that maximizes and meet our goal of 20,000 units by 2024. One of the things i have read is you are taking advantage of the tax exclusion to get money to address Affordable Housing. Senator tim scott, who worked with cory booker in putting forward opportunity zones, i remember when it happened. It was something people did not know its not in at the last in at theit snuck last moment. Our opportunity zones working out for you . Are and we just did a project with the department of hud. You have Affordable Housing projects, sometimes extremely low income projects, but Workforce Housing normally gets overlooked and that is your doctors, nurses, police officers, firefighters. For many years, they have not been able to afford to live in the city. Thanks to hud and opportunity zones we were able to put together a deal with the 60 million out of a 70 million project so we could create that workforce projects where there is at market People Living. Ability to retract the working class in our community the deserves to work and live close to each other like they have not been able to do for several decades. What are your biggest problems that you want this Washington Community to hear about what youre struggling with right now, and particularly i know you are here a lot. What do these folks in d. C. Need to hear that they are not hearing from mayors of cities like yours . Some of this is precovid, but one of the things they need to hear is our cities are exploding in terms of growth. It is becoming more and more difficult for the market to provide Affordable Housing. Models that have been proven and work. You do not need to reinvent the wheel. We always try to find exotic and new ways to be creative, but a lot of the programs that we know already work are programs where you have a publicsector and privatesector partnership. We do that in the city, and im sure many other cities do it as well, by contributing land. We also have land that is inefficiently developed. We will partner with the private sector that will take the risk to make sure our project remains yearsable for 20, 40, 50 and they are risking their profit and limiting the increase rent. We like to do it through the all we are asking from washington and the state is dedicate a significant portion of the revenue they generate to help us create cities where we can have frontline workers, a lot of which were exposed during covid. The nurses, teachers, and now we are back to school, police officers, firefighters. Police officers and firefighters are one of the highest professions to get infected. They deserve the support of not only the private sector but the public sector. Audience to remind our that you are the second person that came down with covid and you went through a process. Several efforts to get to negative and you struggle with this personally. Mayor toalso the first put in place stayathome orders, first to put in a curfew, really to wrestle this down. We saw the tragic next wave that came. You worked so hard to keep your Community Safe and yet, it still came in. What happened . I think what happened is the Surgeon General summed it up pretty well. When we opened there was a theme like the last day of school. Everybody just almost forgot about the fact there was a highly infectious virus in the community. One of the things it demonstrated is its own resilience and efficiency in spreading. Toas also the first implement a mask in public role. That has brought us down to levels, just the other day, at 500 new cases per day which is something we have not seen since april. We were at 3500 new cases a day for a while. That is about 1 7 what we were at our high point. You have to make tough decisions. I never got into politics thinking i would close an industry or business or ask people to do something they may feel uncomfortable with. When health and safety are at risk you have to make difficult leadership decisions. Keeping in mind and understanding you are saving lives at the end of the day. Mesa,ed the mayor of arizona this question. We watched the Convention Last night and heard people saying we are against zoning of singlefamily homes. In miami, when you make the moves on Affordable Housing to support those in need, is that a point of pride . Is it something that folks are ashamed of . How do you build it in . I see it as part of a healthy community. I know that isnt shared across the board. It so those who need Affordable Housing or assistance, where it isnt tainted with the stain . It is tough at times. I find it somewhat tragic in a way when someone will tell me we built a beautiful affordable and someone will say i dont want to live in that neighborhood. It is sad. There is so much demand for Affordable Housing. There are so few supply. When someone gets it, they should feel fortunate. Is,her thing we look at sometimes when people get Affordable Housing, there is a perception that they are taken care of, they are ok. We realize that orderly people on fixed income were not ok. Of thethe covenant development, developers were able to raise the rents. The median income, they were still affordable, but they were able to raise it by security wasial increasing. We were able to create another program to help the elderly with a rental Assistance Program. We lost connection with the help. We will try to get back to it soon as we can. Is part ofhink it the Affordable Housing picture also. I thought it was profound that you said that. I was wondering, what is miami doing on that front . Talking to a national audience, what do we need to do more of on the Mental Health side and communities being empathetic and helping people who are not handling this time of coronavirus so easily . This has been an incredibly challenging time. And how it has affected certain populations with covid, this has been like ripping off the bandaid and exposing how vulnerable certain people are in our community. Our reporting on Domestic Violence went down. Under other circumstances, we would be thrilled. But we found that people being forced to stay home was creating a climate where victims felt that they had a place to go. We are urging people to please reach out and please ask for resources. That have federal funding we received at the county level. We can urge our county officials to help us combat this problem which is a problem that gets exacerbated when people are stressed out about not being able to find work. About the different restrictions and their inability to provide for their families. Under incredible stress under normal circumstances. Now, with the record of, a gets multiplied. How is the morale of your team . The frontline folks . The folks who report to you . We forget that there is an infrastructure around mayors providing the services. Are they upbeat . Downbeat . Stressed . We are update upbeat because we have had a good few weeks. Count is down. The fact that our hospitalizations which were at a high are now down. That means our Hospital System is less stressed than it was a few weeks ago. That is positive. This has been a tough year. Frontline workers have been dealing with covid, will unrest. It has not been a year were people have been able to relax. It has been tough. We have a resiliency. We continue to focus on our resiliency metrics. We understand this is a Dynamic World and to be truly resilient is to deal with the shocks and stresses that we will be continually hit with going forward. I had the privilege of calling and talking to you often. Thank you so much for joining us as always giving us your time. I am always here for you. Ourow, for a message from sponsor, Enterprise Community partners. Home has always been where our heart is. Right now, it is so much more. It is where we go to work, where our children go to school, where we take shelter. Of pride,be a place power, belonging. Covid19, too Many Americans cannot and it home they could afford. Now, millions are at risk of losing their homes and job losses continue. Nationale is a Nonpartisan Organization that works across the country to make home a place that all of us can afford. We believe Affordable Housing investment is vital to rebuilding americas economic and social fabric, and by doing so, we can repair the legacy of segregation and build a more prosperous nation. Enterprise was among the first to merge Smart Business with True Community building. It from the start, we believed that all vision have the power to youll hope and change. Bipartisan federal programs allow us to turn big ideas into rick and mortar reality so families have a place to call home. Raising and investing capital, we provide social returns leveraging taxpayer dollars by as much as 20 times. It is remarkable leverage that benefits all communities. We work on the ground to create homes and communities where everyone belongs. Where residents are protected from discrimination. There has never been a onesizefitsall solution to meeting the Nations Housing challenges. Proven federal programs like the low income house credit, the new market tax credit and the home program have a track record of real success. They revitalize communities and drive economic growth. A home you can afford is not a red or blue issue. Thes an American Keystone touches every community from coasttocoast. That is why together, we must fight for increased investment in federal federal Affordable Housing programs. It the normalcy of knowing that we have a home. When we signed a lease, it was a big transition time for our family. What that meant for our future, the stability and peace it was going to bring. It is safe. We are able to cook our own meals again. We cannot cook meals in the shelter. I am very happy there. Where you live has a profound impact on who you become. With your support and your fight for increased federal funding, we will build an equitable path forward from covid19. A future where home and community are stepping stones to more. Join us. Now, a quick clarification. Isle this next interview being conducted by me and the questions are mine, this should not be considered editorial. I am joined by the ceo of Enterprise Community partners. I want americans to understand the dashboard of why Affordable Housing ought to be a priority for them. Today for most americans, their housing expense is the largest expense in their budget. Have less resources for medical resources medical bills, food, other income that they could otherwise spend in the economy. Today, we have 11 million renters and one and four spends 50 of their income on housing. There is not one county in the u. S. Today with a single parent working time on a minimum wage that can afford a two bedroom apartment. That is according to a recent report. It is a huge issue for families. Housed,ne is not stably it impacts their health, their opportunities. It is something that is often overlooked. Be at one of the more important issues facing our country today. What is the connection between covid19 and Affordable Housing . We were already facing a housing crisis before covid. Facing worselready health outcomes. People who worse on stably housed did not have broadband access. What covid has done is shed a light on many of the underlying issues that are happening today in our country. We have low income workers. Today, we call them essential workers. They are the ones who have been going to work, exposing themselves to the virus. We also see that low income workers were the first ones to be furloughed or laid off. What covid has done is just exasperated the issue that has been impacted low income families across the country from a low income perspective, housing perspective, health perspective. There is the digital divide, the educational divide, trying to do remote learning. Light onown a bright so many issues impacting communities today. You working with them and how are they coping . Today are in a difficult situation. At enterprise, we are very concerned. We have a stimulus package. But it has stalled. We know from renters that it was the stimulus payment, the temporary Unemployment Benefits that has been helping them get through the economic crisis. There are surveys that say that renters today are worried about paying their rent x months. Their rent next month. Is ane are worried about Eviction Moratorium and stopgap measures put in place during the Public Health crisis. They are just a bandaid. A moratorium is not rent forgiveness. These rents have to be paid. When families cannot face cannot pay rent, they potentially face eviction. We are very concerned today that renters need emergency rental assistance. That is what has gotten them through this crisis. You have a full 360 degree view of the affordability crisis. I am interested in what drove programs are out there that you think about are the most . A onestop solution when it comes to housing. Andave urban, suburban, Rural Communities across the country. We have a supply issue and unaffordability issue. Some programs have worked very successfully. Income housing tax credit. It is the most effective tool to produce new housing and preserve formal housing. There is also the new market tax credit. It is a way to bring in private investment capital. Again, allowing communities to decide what type of Critical Infrastructure they need. Is it more medical services . Charter schools . Supermarkets . Very flexible and flexible and private capital into these areas. Another one is the home program. The home program is probably the most taxable of the hud programs. It allows localities and state governments to decide what are their unique Housing Needs for their particular jurisdictions. There is also section eight vouchers which gives individuals a choice of where they want to live. There are a number of production programs that help on the supply side. There are also demand programs like the section eight housing vouchers that give individuals a choice. Much for sharing those important thoughts with us today and for supporting todays program. We really appreciate it. Is great to be here. Now that we have heard from the leaders of two cities, it is time to hear from two experts who can further share let share light on where our needs our r. Our first is the leader of a nonprofit. The second is the president of the urban institute. A research and policy organization devoted to strengthening communities. I have known sarah for a long time. You are the data lady. The urban institute is all data no politics. Communitiesal with as they are, what does the data say . First, thank you. I always love someone who says good things about the urban institute its great to be here. Sadly, the challenges that we faced as a country on Affordable Housing supply and affordability for families were severe before the crisis and they were severe and many places around the country. We tend to think of Affordable Housing is a problem in our big cities particularly the high cost cities. What we know is that affordability issues are severe in Rural Communities and suburban communities. You saw two payers from different places. Miami is a huge area. If you look at a Rural Community, you have the same issues of housing apply and a Family Spending are too much of their income. All of that was true before covid. With the impact on so many families, first covid payments then the extended ui helped many but not all. We saw a dramatic increase in not payingr people on their mortgages and people not paying their rent, but not as great as one might expect. When the Eviction Moratorium stop and the Unemployment Insurance, if we dont have a deal to provide that support, we are looking at in rural suburban and urban communities, a wave of potential housing loss that could be as deep as we saw in the Great Recession and its consequences could be lasting for both health and the ability to recover from the crisis. Let me turn this to you and asked, we often talk about policy topics. We do address rural urban divides. Its in broadband. Differences in broadband. What does that look like when it comes to housing challenges in the rural area that you have been addressing for so many years . Housing, oneural of the things that happens is people think initially about housing, they think of programs that are administered by hud. The financing, the core comes out of rural the u. S. Department of agriculture. Within the Rural Development segment within the usda. That wehe problems is Start Talking about assistance, assistance for the residents, rural residents typically dont take take advantage of the section eight program. There is a whole separate program that is there for the rural resident. , the usda has a lot of programs that are funded under the Agriculture Department and agriculture appropriations. Is Rural Development constantly fighting for money from even within their own agency. Things womenf the and we a conversation talk to folks, we have to say forget its two separate agencies. Two different programs and they dont mesh all the time. What you give to one does not go to the other necessarily. Do you think that needs to be changed . Im not joking when i say i do urban institute programs. I did not know what you just shared about the department of agriculture and these Rural Community grants. This is an opportunity to talk about reshaping things. Should that line she reshaped so that those moneys come under another set of authorities . Or do we need to do better marketing on where they are . That has been a subject of discussion throughout the years with a variety of different people. My feeling is there just needs to be a better marketing program. There needs to be more. When you talk about housing and Rural Communities, it is housing for people who live in rural areas of the country. The way the agencies are structured, way the agency is whatsred within itself, going on in louisiana. With any hurricanes or whatever. One thing you dont have when you have an emergency like a hurricane is that the usda is right on the ground. Centers allicing across the country. And are able to get folks it usually happens, in some areas it is a Rural Community that is more impacted. If we talk about maybe more Cooperation Amongst the agencies. A deregulation. I think that is important. Sarah . I am not going to weigh in on agency. Talk about the bigger question which is our understanding of Affordable Housing needs. There are two key things that we tend not think about. We are around the republican convention, yet there are different parts of our country med, purple, and blue heaven,. That the arias have in common. Resources. S that is true for americans in Rural Communities, suburban and urban areas. The second is the degree to which housing is the core part of our economy. We tend to think about people owing rent to a big corporate entity. 88 of American Renters pay forr rent to a relative rent and a housing unit that is relatively small. It could be a singlefamily rental, different flats, or a property that has 1220 units. When Tenants Campaign their rent, the businesses in those communities cant pay their taxes. We heard from our two mayors about the hit to revenue for state and local governments. This is a problem of Housing Affordability and the housing crisis we are facing is a problem that all of our communities share. I appreciate you talking about the synergies of these issues and how when you are not paying one place, its going to hit the other. There is alleged we are facing when moratoria and. Ledge, youok at that look at whats out there, what dont we have in place today that we had to have . We all see the ledge coming. What is the missing safety cushion . We talk and recessions about soft landings or hard landings. How do we get a soft ending . We are facing a very hard landing. Mention that it is not about Eviction Moratoriums. Of unemployment payments. Covid, that and the people pay rent before they feed their families. Without a roof over their heads, they cant go on to solve other challenges. The first and we have to do is congress has to get back to work and reach an agreement around extending the Unemployment Insurance or some kind of other Housing Support or we will have people on the street. During a health crisis, evictions is not the way to lower the spread and get the economy working. Side, i wouldl just say that while the bill that people refer to as cares contains a lot of money for urban and suburban residents, there was no money that was put in for rural residents. The things that we are advocating for his additional rental insistence assistant. Rental assistance for people who right now dont have rental assistance and live in the properties that are owned and managed by our members. There were lots of people for whom the Unemployment Insurance did not reach which is why we saw the uptick. There are a lot of people for whom the federal Eviction Moratoriums only covered those in properties that were assisted by hud. There were a whole lot of folks who when these moratoriums are lifted, unless we provide some sort of interim Housing Assistance or other income supports, we are going to see a very dramatic crisis in our country. Right before an election. It is such a challenge. Lets, we have a question. In the executive Director Director of a trade association for organizations across the country. A membership that did over 5 billion in Affordable Housing community development. I am in cleveland, ohio. What should the path look like for successful federal housing plan . Between an infrastructure, job program, and a relief bill . I love that question. He is saying what should our social contract on this be . Think we should be doing some shortterm steps building us toward a longterm future. That was exactly the right question. We need to prevent things from getting worse. If we are to face a huge recession and we knew we were facing an underlying supply problem for housing, this is an opportunity for us to create and the increasing support and to supply programs create more units so that puts downward pressure on rent and at the same time, we have to realize that our federal housing subsidy programs reach less than 20 in many places of the need that exists already. Want people to able to go out of the jobs and education and support their kids in schooling, we need them to have stable housing. Bridge so we can prevent things getting worse. Lets start to build the supply programs and provide enough support so that people can work on the rest of the economy and be active members of a thriving economic program. Colleen, how would you work on this . I was taken with your comments right now, i did not know that on these rural Housing Assistance affordable support that you were not into the cares act. I think the success of Affordable Housing has been because of the private Public Partnership that has developed over the years. , as is certainly a result sarah and others have mentioned, credit andcome tax other programs. The 4 bond program is really important for when you are doing Capital Improvements and rehab and preservation. 4 ir efforts to try to do which is very important because with low Interest Rates right now. I would say that looking at what theave done and we as affordable industry as a whole have done to make all the programs work together, i think it is indicative of the fact that it is important to continue that relationship. , wes important also continue to say that if you Start Talking about infrastructure needs, housing in front of infrastructure. You can bring broadband into a community but if you dont have people using the broadband, the People Living in houses and kids in school having to use broadbent to go to school, it is important. All of the discussions on the table need to continue to happen. I want to thank you both. Thank you for these insights. This is a very edgy, great conversation and thank you so much for sharing with us today. Thank you for having us. Thank you. That brings us to the end of this program. Thank you to Enterprise Community supporters. For those of you who missed any of the conversations, you will find clips of this conversation and these talks with our Convention Coverage on our Hill Convention hub shortly. We will be back tomorrow morning with another installment. We will be asking republican pollsters what they think about the president s fate come november