“I’m ready to write the next chapter of American housing policy. With history in mind, I call on everyone to work together to redeem the American dream.”
Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, published an op-ed in Urban One’s most recent publication, 8th Anniversary Edition of Engaging Black America 2025. Blunt Rochester’s op-ed, titled, “From Redlining to Reform: A New Chapter for Housing Policy,” focuses on her vision for the road ahead on increasing access to affordable housing for all Americans.
Blunt Rochester is dedicated to cutting unnecessary red tape and empowering localities to increase housing supply and lower costs. Earlier this week, she introduced the bipartisan Accelerating Home Building Act to streamline housing construction. Additionally, the first bill Blunt Rochester introduced in the Senate was the bipartisan Housing Supply Frameworks Act which would help communities rehaul their zoning and land use regulations. She also introduced the bipartisan Veterans Housing Stability Act to help keep veterans and servicemembers in their homes. Legislation based on the Veterans Housing Stability Act passed the Senate by voice vote on July 15. Blunt Rochester also leads the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative Act, legislation that permanently authorizes and expands the Choice Neighborhoods Program.
To read Blunt Rochester’s op-ed in Urban One, click HERE. The full text can also be found below:
Today, Black History is being scrubbed from the pages of textbooks, wiped off displays in museums, and silenced in national conversations. The erasure of Black stories is a deliberate erasure of American history and the truth, but it is also a major obstacle to progress. As a United States Senator, I revere history. I look to it not only for inspiration but as a guide for how our country can do better, be better, and fully live up to the great ideals enshrined in our Constitution.
Understanding where we come from is critical to knowing where we are and where we must go.
This is especially true when we think about the story of housing in America and the enduring aftermath of redlining, segregation, and structural racism built into our housing policies.
As someone who has dedicated almost a decade in Congress – first in the House of Representatives and now in the Senate – I have built a robust, bipartisan record on housing policy.
This has been driven, in part, by my own family’s ability to move from public housing to purchasing our first home. I’ll never forget the moment we walked through that doorway. I believe every American should have the opportunity to experience this as well.
Last year, Americans considered housing one of the most significant issues on their minds. In fact, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center, a majority of Americans, across all political affiliations, demand that elected officials pass bipartisan legislation to increase the supply of affordable homes and bring down the costs of housing.
It is a characteristic of good government and a moral obligation to ensure its people have food on the table, a roof over their head, and access to what was once called the American Dream.
If we are serious about addressing our housing crisis on behalf of the American people, we must identify the beginning. One of the pivotal turning points in our housing crisis began in 1944 with the G.I. Bill.
The G.I. Bill was landmark legislation, designed to honor the sacrifice of our nation’s veterans in one of the world’s deadliest wars. This legislation was sweeping, assisting veterans with education, housing, and employment.
The actual implementation of the bill fell short of its intended promise. Deep racism enabled universities to deny returning Black veterans a chance at a college degree, vocational programs refused to provide Black veterans with resources to be set up for success, and big banks and lenders systematically prevented Black families from loan opportunities. In 1947, over three thousand veterans across thirteen Mississippi cities applied for the VA-guarantee program established by the G.I. Bill. Of that number, only two loans went to Black borrowers.
But this was only one facet of the crisis. For hundreds of years, redlining and intentional segregation perpetuated deep inequalities for homeownership. We can trace back to the Homestead Act of 1864, which denied property rights to African Americans, or even the New Deal of 1933 which heightened discriminatory lending practices. Over time, our housing crisis ballooned, worsened by the exacerbated wealth gaps, the inability of families to buy in some neighborhoods, population changes, and the lack of investment in communities.
The good news is that we can – and must – reverse this.
My first bill in the Senate, the bipartisan Housing Supply Frameworks Act, is a step toward rectifying these inequities. This bill aims to cut through the red tape that prevents the development of new homes. It does so by empowering states and localities to identify and eliminate barriers for building affordable housing. It also provides resources to change outdated zoning practices. This is important because the last time the federal government embarked on providing model zoning frameworks was in the 1920s, over a century ago.
There is momentum on housing legislation. Over 140 advocacy organizations – from progressive to right-leaning – have endorsed my bill. Including the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Up for Growth, and the National Multifamily Housing Council.
But we must be clear-eyed. There is no better perspective on how to legislate this issue than the collective history of Black Americans, who have borne the brunt of some of the most egregious housing policies of the 20th century.
We cannot begin to solve the homelessness crisis facing our Veterans without first examining how the G.I. Bill, post-World War II, excluded Black veterans and their families from purchasing homes.
We cannot reform our housing codes without reckoning with how predatory lenders intentionally targeted Black communities with high-interest loans and how public housing segregation and disinvestment divided Black families’ access to certain parts of our economy.
And we cannot reimagine our housing regulatory framework without first admitting that exclusionary zoning practices existed and still exist today. They are in large part to blame for the lack of generational wealth building for Black Americans.
I believe we can do all of these things, but it starts with being honest about how we got here. We cannot rewrite, erase, or sanitize this history. I’m ready to write the next chapter of American housing policy. With history in mind, I call on everyone to work together to redeem the American dream.
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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.