You don’t need me to tell you this: housing costs are out of control.

In almost every community — rural, suburban, urban — it’s getting harder to rent a home and harder to put together a down payment.

Forty years ago, the average home in the Boston area cost about 4.5 times the salary of a Boston Public School teacher. Today, that home costs nearly 11 times a public school teacher’s salary.

For renters, it’s no easier. Rent in Massachusetts is now more expensive than in any other state in the country. Between 2020 and 2021, rent in the Commonwealth jumped a whopping 21%.

The cause of this crisis is not a secret: We don’t have enough housing. It’s Econ 101. Across the country, we are over 7 million units short of what we need. And in Massachusetts, experts say that we need at least 175,000 new housing units right now for everyone to have a place to call home.

This housing problem is not going to solve itself. Local governments do not have the resources to address the problem alone. State governments cannot tackle this problem by themselves. Washington must act.

That’s why I’m introducing the American Housing and Economic Mobility Act of 2024 alongside Senator Raphael Warnock, Representative Emanuel Cleaver, and dozens of my colleagues in the House and Senate.

This bill is laser-focused on increasing the housing supply — for first-time, first-generation homebuyers, renters, seniors, people with disabilities, veterans, people with no homes, workers, students — pretty much everyone who isn’t already rich and already a homeowner.

According to an independent economic analysis, my bill’s investment would create or rehabilitate nearly 3 million housing units, and it would also lower rents for middle- and working-class families by about 10% — amounting to average savings of about $140 a month.

If you’re ready to help pass this powerfully important legislation, add your name to sign on as a grassroots co-sponsor. And let’s get it done.

In addition to providing federal investment, my bill also encourages local innovation to build even more housing so that we can close the housing gap.

It creates a new innovation fund, so if a community comes up with a good idea to lower housing costs — whether it’s zoning reforms or reworking inspection scheduling — they can get federal dollars to help make that happen.

And as more housing is built, those federal dollars can be used to support that new housing however the community wants: build a new elementary school, construct a new T-stop, revitalize a decaying downtown — whatever the community decides.

One more thing about the bill: it’s fully paid for. How? By making a few changes to the estate tax so that America’s wealthiest give a tiny slice of their millions and billions to fix this crisis. By bringing back rates from the end of the George W. Bush Administration and setting slightly higher rates for the richest of the rich, we can fully pay for this investment in our country.

Now, maybe you can already hear the naysayers in your head, claiming there’s no way we can get all this done.

But let me just say this: we have to get all this done. We need more housing — and nothing we’re doing now is working. Every year, we’re falling further behind, and prices are going up even higher.

So yes, I get it — the Republicans will fight us, and the billionaires will try to block us, but you don’t get what you don’t fight for. It’s time to come off the sidelines and make a big federal investment in housing.

The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act is the breakthrough legislation we need to finally bring down housing costs and level the playing field so working families everywhere can find a decent place to live at a decent price. Add your name to say you support it.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth