Skip to main content

Housing

Congressman Cohen is a strong advocate for fair housing policies and increased federal investment in affordable housing. Mindful of the Great Recession of 2008, during which Memphis and the nation suffered an unprecedented foreclosure crisis, Congressman Cohen strongly supports efforts to prevent predatory practices in the home mortgage loan industry to protect future or current homebuyers and homeowners, respectively.

Congressman Cohen introduced the Housing Accountability Act, alongside Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL), which would hold property owners of low-income, federally-subsidized housing facilities accountable for poor living conditions. Working across the aisle, some of the important provisions of the Housing Accountability Act were passed by the House and Senate and signed into law, increasing the accountability of landlords managing federally subsidized housing facilities to prevent chronic, persistent issues that threaten the health and safety of tenants.

In 2015, after a long multi-year, the Congressman was pleased to announce that Memphis, among nine nationwide finalists, was awarded a $30 million federal grant from the Choice Neighborhood program to redevelop Foote Homes and bring much needed revitalization to Memphis. The Choice Neighborhoods program was an initiative of the Obama Administration that sought to transform neighborhoods of poverty into viable, mixed-income areas with access to economic opportunities. The program endeavored to do so through the revitalization of severely distressed public and assisted housing by leveraging and investing in well-functioning services, effective schools and education programs, public assets, public transportation and improved access to jobs.

Congressman Cohen has worked to shed light on the mismanagement of several low-income, public housing facilities in Memphis including Goodwill Village, Tulane, and the Warren Apartments. Congressman Cohen wrote to then-Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Julian Castro, to launch an investigation. Even after a change of management, persistent maintenance concerns remain at several properties which led Congressman Cohen to write to current HUD Secretary Ben Carson, demanding to know what steps the Trump Administration would be taking to bring property managers of poorly maintained public housing facilities in compliance with federal law.