Public Housing Takes Priority in Biden Spending Bill
The latest version of the White House’s social spending framework puts half as much toward housing. But it's still one of the largest affordable housing investments in history.
The Robert S. Fulton public housing development in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York.
Photographer: Christopher Occhicone/Bloomberg
The White House narrowed its housing agenda with the latest compromise version of President Joe Biden’s social spending bill, lowering funding levels by half while also shifting the bill’s priorities.
Representative Maxine Waters and her allies had pushed for $327 billion for rental assistance, affordable housing and other progressive priorities in the reconciliation bill. The most recent White House framework for the Build Back Better Act shows that this figure has been cut in half: The new target is $150 billion, with funding for many of the same programs intact.