Since its founding, Color Of Change has always been a voice for racial and economic justice, unapologetically fighting for equity and accountability on behalf of our supporters to become the largest online racial justice organization. Few issues have been as crucial to our community in recent years than the skyrocketing cost of housing, which holds us back and puts the dream of homeownership further and further out of reach. We hear you and we are fighting back.
For too long, the American tax code has failed to address the needs of the working class. Loopholes and tax breaks increasingly benefit those at the top, while denying the rest of us the opportunity to thrive.
As Congress prepares to debate the Trump tax cuts, we are demanding that the tax code reflect the economic reality we face today and that they quit handing out tax breaks to their donors and the ultra-wealthy.
1. We demand that Congress take a balanced approach to incentivize the building of more homes—but also to allow renters to keep more of their money so they can afford to buy those homes. Specifically, Congress should: Adopt a renters’ tax credit. More Americans currently rent their homes than at any point in the past 55 years. This trend has devastating economic consequences for communities across the country. Half of all renters in the United States—a record 22.4 million households–are cost burdened, meaning they spend 30% or more of their income on their rent. Black families are overrepresented in this crisis; in 2019, 58% of Black households were renters, as opposed to 28% of white families. We demand that Congress make the elusive dream of homeownership a reality for our communities by passing proposals such as:
The Rent Relief Act, which aims to assist renters earning under $100,000 who spend at least 30% of their income on rent and utilities by providing a refundable tax credit, or;
A mortgage interest credit would provide more help than today’s deduction to most middle- and lower-income homeowners with mortgages, while trimming subsidies for upper-income owners. As a result, it would likely do more than the existing deduction to help families that would otherwise struggle to afford the costs of homeownership.
2. Incentivize the building and sale of more homes, especially affordable housing. Since 2010, builders have started about 1.1 million new homes a year on average — far below the 1.6 million needed to keep up with population growth. This imbalance of supply and demand has caused housing prices to skyrocket and rendered the dream of homeownership out of reach for our community. To tackle this issue, Congress must incentivize the development of both market-rate and affordable housing and restore the balance between supply and demand by passing proposals such as:
American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which would leverage federal funding to build nearly 3 million new housing units – bringing down rents for lower-income and middle-class families by 10% according to an independent analysis from Moody’s Analytics.
