“The rent is too damn high!” says Marcia Fudge, secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in reference to the campaign phrase popularized by former politician Jimmy McMillan.
“He was absolutely right…I agree with him 100%,” said Fudge, head of the federal agency created in 1965 to address America’s housing and urban challenges, during a sit-down interview with theGrio.
A recently published Joint Center for Housing Studies report from Harvard University found that a record half of U.S. renters are paying rent considered to be unaffordable, which is 30% or more of their income on rent and utilities. Black and brown renters, considered to be the most “cost-burdened,” are paying 50% or more of their earnings on rent.
Black households are also more likely to have lower incomes than other races and ethnicities, the Harvard study points out, due to racial discrimination in education and labor markets.
Secretary Fudge noted that U.S. rent is persistently high due to a continual short supply of housing units.
“We don’t have enough units of rental housing to create some competition,” said the Biden-Harris administration official, who said some landlords and real estate owners are “gouging people because they know that they can get more.”
She added, “Until we can build more rental units, the prices are not going to go down significantly.”
When asked about the new study on the high cost of housing in America and the impact on Black households, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told theGrio that the study was conducted through 2022 and that incomes for Black households have slightly increased in recent years.
Still, the spokesperson for President Joe Biden acknowledged that housing affordability “remains a challenge” for Black and brown communities.
“While for decades there has been no action…this president has taken some action to [make] sure that…
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