The affordable-housing crisis means most low-wage workers are spending at least 50 percent of their income on housing.

Rents have risen and wages have not. Most low-wage workers can't qualify for even a modest place to live because the exhorbitant rent will take more than 30 percent of their income. For example, a full-time employee making $10 an hour grosses only $1,600 a month. In most housing markets, rent takes up at least half of that $1,600. We need affordable housing NOW, and the federal government must step in to encourage and support state and local governments to invest in affordable housing, release more funds to assist income-qualified families with housing costs and spur the economy to create higher-paying jobs for "blue collar" workers. We should invest in the American people by re-prioritizing how tax dollars are spent -- or wasted.