A month after officially entering the 2020 Democratic presidential race, Julián Castro made a stop in Boise, Idaho, as part of his commitment to visit every state during his campaign.
“I am running for president because I believe that in the years to come that we need to move forward as one nation with one destiny, and that destiny in the 21st century is to be the smartest, the healthiest, the fairest, and the most prosperous nation on Earth,” the San Antonio native told a crowd of about 400 people at Boise State University on Tuesday night.
The former Department of Housing and Urban Development secretary under President Obama, who addressed topics from investing in early education to immigration reform, said the nation needs bold solutions to address the affordability crisis.
“Everybody needs a decent place to live,” he said. “We need to make big investments in housing supply throughout our country—from significantly expanding the low-income housing tax credit to boosting things like Community Development Block Grants and HOME funds to boosting the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s investment in rural housing opportunity and finding a better revenue source for things like the National Housing Trust Fund, which is aimed specifically at people categorized as extremely low income. I support all of those things.”
He told the crowd that the Obama administration’s last fiscal budget included a plan to eliminate family homelessness over the next decade.
“It was an $11 billion plan. It didn’t go anywhere, but there’s a blueprint there for how we could tackle this,” he said, adding that he looks forward to offering his own detailed plan on how to create more housing supply.
He also praised his fellow candidates in the race who are offering plans on affordable housing. Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif)., and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) have all recently introduced housing policy proposals in the Senate.
