Under the Faircloth Amendment [signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1999], the supply of public housing is capped at 1999 levels. In order to build a new public housing unit, the federal government is required to either abolish an existing unit or sell it to a private buyer. [...]
Article 34 of the California state constitution requires majority voter approval at the ballot for government-funded construction of any low-income housing project including public housing.
— San Francisco Examiner
Writing in The San Francisco Examiner, data scientist and fair housing advocate Sasha Perigo highlights the federal Faircloth Amendment as perhaps the most significant obstacle standing in the way of a trio of recently proposed public housing expansion programs that could vastly increase public housing construction nationwide.
As Perigo writes, political momentum is gaining speed to repeal both the federal and state laws in question. The plans unveiled by New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and by Minnesota Representative Ilhan Omar would both repeal the Faircloth amendment, for example. Meanwhile, in California, State Senators Ben Allen and Scott Wiener are aiming to work locally to scrap the state's Article 34 provision, Perigo reports.
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