to get us started, i would like to yield to the gentlelady from california, ms. porter. ms. porter: my son, paul, broke my heart with a question. he asked, mom, will you come visit me when i grow up and live outside of california? why would you want to live out of state, i asked. it wasn't that there's somewhere else he would rather be. he was just a teenager. a teenager. already worrying that he wouldn't be able to afford to live where he grew up. he's right to be worried. we all face a big choughs of living problem. housing has become too expensive and affordable housing altogether too scarce. the national low income housing coalition estimates that there's a nationwide shortage of more than seven million affordable homes. that's not just a problem. it is a full-blown crisis. washington has bungled this for decades and nothing is changing. earlier this year, bipartisan house and senate leaders promised, quote, the biggest housing investment in -- the biggest investment in housing that congress has made in 35 years. until the deal fell apart. we're back to solving yesterday