Torres wants millions more in Section 8

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-Bronx) has proposed a bill to aid the homeless with sweeping enhancements to rental assistance for the poor.

The legislation, called the Ending Homelessness Act of 2021, aims to grow the federal government’s existing housing voucher program for low-income tenants, known as Section 8.

The bill would boost the availability of federal rental aid vouchers by some 3.5 million by 2025, and would make the assistance available to every eligible American within a decade, according to Torres’ office.

Torres, a freshman on Capitol Hill who grew up in public housing in the east Bronx, introduced the 32page draft legislation on Friday with a pair of veterans lawmakers, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.).

Torres acknowledged the bill’s path through Congress is “ambitious.”

But he told the Daily News he hopes it will shape the upcoming reconciliation bill, and he emphasized the value of its promise.

“There’s no policy that would do more to confront the root causes of the affordability crisis,” said Torres, 33, who formerly served on the City Council and has long kept a laser focus on affordable housing. “It represents the implementation of housing as a human right.”

An analysis from the New York Housing Conference, a nonprofit advocacy group, found that the bill would clear a path for more than 400,000 new households across New York State to receive federal rental assistance by 2026. The figure would tick north of 1 million by 2029.

“It would be a profound impact on housing poverty in New York and across the nation,” said Rachel Fee, the executive director of the New York Housing Conference.