Cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston and Chicago have been left trying to pick up the mantle on affordable housing as Congress and the Trump administration leave it unaddressed.
These densely populated urban hubs — which have some of the country’s largest homeless populations — are confronting federal funding cuts and uncertainty over further reductions from the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Their officials are feeling the pressure to pursue interim solutions, including revisiting and updating long-standing zoning codes.
“I think that you see the state government and the city trying to work with the private industry to figure out some means so that we could build more housing and create more housing,” said Rep. Gregory Meeks, a senior member of the House Financial Services Committee, of New York. “I wish the federal government would do its part, but apparently it’s not under this president.”