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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release December 29, 1999

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

I am pleased to announce that my budget for FY 2001 will include $690 million for 120,000 new housing vouchers to help America's hardpressed working families. These housing vouchers subsidize the rents of low-income Americans, helping them to move closer to job opportunities. Housing vouchers are a critical part of my Administration's efforts to reform welfare, reward work, support working families, and provide affordable housing for low-income families.

In today's booming economy, about two-thirds of new jobs are being created in the suburbs -- far from where many low-income families live. These new housing vouchers will enable families to move closer to a new job, reduce a long commute, or secure more stable housing that will help them get or keep a job. We should 32,000 of the 120,000 new housing vouchers to help families moving from welfare to work and to use 18,000 vouchers to help homeless individuals and families secure permanent housing.

Last year, we worked with Congress to secure 50,000 housing vouchers, the first in four years. This November, we fought hard to provide 60,000 additional vouchers for hard-pressed working families in the final FY 2000 budget agreement -- after having been eliminated by both the House and Senate bills. As we work on the next budget, I urge Congress to join me in a bipartisan effort to fund new housing vouchers that will make housing more affordable for more working Americans.

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