Everyone needs a safe place to call home. But that need is not being met for more than 400,000 Americans who are experiencing homelessness.

Oregon and the United States are in a housing crisis, and the burden of this crisis falls heavily on working families, veterans, low-income earners, and disabled individuals.

We must invest more in affordable housing and homelessness services, and it's something I work on every day in Congress.

I have been advocating for more affordable housing options, fighting to secure additional funding for emergency shelters and re-housing support, and working to protect manufactured homeowners from predatory lending practices like high-interest rates.

But this is about more than just making more housing available; it's about helping people get what they need to thrive.

Recently Senator Wyden and I introduced a bill that allocates $500 million for the construction or retrofitting of child care facilities within affordable housing developments, with priority given to rural areas and child care deserts.

I also just introduced legislation to help people experiencing homelessness overcome common barriers to accessing SNAP food assistance, like a lack of transportation to the program's offices to apply for benefits.

These are crucial steps in the right direction, and there's a lot more that needs to be done. It's going to take leaders at every level of government coming together to solve this problem.

As Co-Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Housing, I'm aiming to fundamentally change the housing landscape in this country. I won't stop fighting until everyone has a safe place to call home.

Thank you for standing with me,

Suzanne