Giving Compass' Take:

· Kriston Capps takes a look at Elizabeth Warren's affordable housing bill and how it aims to address both housing shortages and property devaluation. 

· How are cities working to address this crisis? How can funders engage with existing efforts?

· Read more about America's affordable housing crisis. 

On New Year's Eve, Senator Elizabeth Warren announced that she plans to enter the 2020 race for the White House. She hinted as much several months back by releasing a slew of ambitious legislative proposals outlining her likely platform, including reform packages to retool capitalism and roll back corruption.

One of those bills could put the nation's housing affordability crisis center stage in the next presidential election. The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act, which Warren introduced in the Senate this fall, features detailed strategies for attacking the housing crisis from a number of angles. There are policy prescriptions for building more housing in markets where demand has lapped supply. There are also answers for homeowners who are still underwater on their mortgages in the wake of the financial crisis.

Warren's bill drives at two distinct housing crises: one marked by not enough homes, the other by homes with too little value. Those two features alone would signify a sweeping effort to speak to worries in rural and urban America alike. The bill goes further, however: Warren's act includes a provision to use federal funds to help bridge the wealth gap between black and white families.

Read the full article about Elizabeth Warren and America's affordable housing crisis by Kriston Capps at Pacific Standard.