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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 9, 2023 11:02 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Ismail Smith-Wade-El |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Creation of a Housing Council |
| While we have been able to create several new housing programs such as the Housing Options Program, the Whole Home Repairs Program, and the Construction Cost Relief Program thanks to an influx of federal funds, these programs and our existing housing programs lack a comprehensive uniform housing strategy. With so much diversity in housing programs, both at the state and federal levels, having a uniform strategy across all housing programs would give Pennsylvanians the ability to fully utilize these resources. We have a once in a generation chance to reform how Pennsylvanians obtain housing and we can make housing affordable and available to all Pennsylvanians. My bill, a companion to the SB376 introduced by Senators Hughes & Schwank, will establish the Commonwealth Housing Council with the responsibility of working with executive departments and agencies to develop a uniform set of housing goals, benchmarks, and priorities. The 15 members of the council will include: the Secretary of Community and Economic Development, the Secretary of Human Services, the Secretary of the Budget; the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency; members from each caucus of the General Assembly; representation from first-class and second-class counties; and a representative from groupings of counties. The county groupings are taken from the recent Opioid Settlement Trust appointments. Please join me in creating a uniform housing strategy and helping all Pennsylvanians find a place they can call home by co-sponsoring this bill. |
Introduced as HB1294