FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 21, 2000

Contact: Josh Freed
(202) 225-4431
 
DeGETTE AMENDMENT WITH $1.4M IN ADDITIONAL HOUSING
VOUCHERS FOR DENVER METRO AREA DEFEATED

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Representative Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) proposed an amendment this afternoon that would have added $340 million in funding for 60,000 affordable housing vouchers for low-income families across the nation. The amendment was a compromise between President Clinton’s request for 120,000 new vouchers and the Republican-backed appropriations bill with no funding for new vouchers.

“The voucher program is a lifeline that low-income families count on and this bill does not allot one dollar for new vouchers…this is completely unacceptable,” said Rep. DeGette from the House floor. “This Congress has abandoned America’s most needy families.”

The DeGette/Nadler Amendment would have added $1.4 million in additional funds for housing vouchers for Denver and provided 230 new families with the opportunity to receive housing assistance. The need for affordable housing is especially critical in Denver where rents rose by more than 20% between 1995 and 1999, one of the highest increases in the nation.

“There are more than twelve million Americans – men, women and children – who are classified as having ‘worst case housing needs’ and the average waiting period for a housing voucher or space in a public housing unit is more than two years,” added Rep. DeGette. “This is all the proof we need that new vouchers are desperately needed now.”

The amendment was defeated 138-286.
 
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