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Booker unveils new plan for housing

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, a Democratic presidential candidate, has debuted a plan to combat the “affordability crisis” in housing. Booker’s plan offers a tax credit to renters to ensure they do not spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing–a plan the Senator estimates will affect 57 million Americans, including 17 million children.

The first Democratic primary debate is two weeks away, and Booker is polling at only two to three percent in most polls, according to the New York Times. But Booker’s innovative policy could grab the attention of primary voters.

“Access to safe, affordable housing can be transformative in the trajectory of people’s lives,” Booker said in a statement announcing the plan. “My parents knew this when they moved my brother and me to a New Jersey town with good public schools in the face of racial discrimination. The tenants I represented against slumlords when I first moved to Newark knew it too.”

Booker’s housing plan has many other elements, including a rural housing plan and a plan to recruit more lawyers to represent tenants facing eviction from rental properties. Booker’s plan also proposes a “baby bond,” which creates a government savings account for every newborn child that can be supplemented based on income. Booker says the plan can help steer families toward home ownership.