In Carson City, Elizabeth Warren backs funding to ease housing shortages and Medicare for all

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said she wants to “build 3.2 million new housing units across the country and put money into communities to bring down the cost of new construction.”

She made the statement in an interview with the Nevada Appeal before addressing a packed crowd at the MAC on Wednesday evening.

She said the problem the country faces is that developers aren’t building homes for middle and working class families like they did 50 years ago.

That construction, Warren said, has shrunk over time because contractors, “have largely moved to the top end.”

“But for the working people who need housing either to rent or buy it’s just not there,” Warren said.

And prices, she said, have “gone through the roof.”

She said she isn’t mad at the developers, that they’re moving to the market that makes them the best profit.

“At the same time, the federal government has withdrawn its support for housing,” Warren said adding that the situation is especially rough on areas like Northern Nevada which is drawing industry that is creating new jobs and an inflow of numerous people.

“We see hard working people who are homeless. They can’t afford the rent on just the basic housing unit. The federal government can change that,” she said.

She said for decades, incomes of working Americans have been largely flat while basic expenses have gotten much higher for housing, health and child care.

When she was a young woman, she said a minimum wage job would support a family of three. She said now it won’t support a family of two.

“Part of the reason is that, for decades, government has worked great for those at the top. It just hasn’t worked for anyone else,” she said.

Warren said government must stand up on tribal issues as well, by living up to its trust and treaty obligations. She said she and Rep. Deb Haaland of New Mexico have an extensive plan to commit the United States to meet its obligations to tribal communities on issues ranging from health care and housing to the environment to, “treating tribes with respect in a nation to nation relationship.”

Warren took a straight-forward stance against the development of the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste dump.

“It’s not safe or responsible to store nuclear materials in a seismically unstable location,” she said.

Health care, she said, “is a basic human right.” She said she supports Medicare for all so that everyone gets access to the healthcare they need at a price they can afford.

“Every major country on this planet provides health care for their people,” she said. “We’re the richest country in the world. We can afford health care.”