Published: Saturday, 12 December 2020 05:54
December 12, 2020 - Washington - Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) joined Senators Jeff Merkley, (D-Ore.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) to
push Senate leaders to deliver critical housing assistance to Americans struggling to find reliable shelter in the wake of catastrophic wildfire damage in western states. This year alone, fires in the west burned more than 5.8 million acres, claimed more than 30 lives and forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes.
“The current wildfires will further exacerbate an already critical affordable housing shortage impacting western states. Oregon, California, and Washington are short over 1.2 million affordable rental housing units, and have an average of 75% of extremely low income renter households dealing with severe cost burden,” the senators wrote to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer