Sponsors (35)
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Suzanne Bonamici · Last progress January 23, 2025
The bill invests federal funds to co-locate licensed child care with affordable housing—improving access, reducing parental time and costs, and supporting early learning—while creating new federal spending and administrative requirements that may disadvantage small providers, complicate large projects, and add implementation burdens.
Low-income families and parents (including public housing residents and those in child care deserts) gain greater access to nearby or on-site licensed child care through co-located housing projects, creating or preserving child care slots in underserved areas.
Parents and working caregivers reduce commuting time, lower child care-related expenses and obtain more convenient, reliable care—supporting workforce participation and family economic stability.
The bill directs new federal investment ($100M per year, FY2025–2030) into housing-linked child care infrastructure, supporting construction jobs and local economic activity while funding creation/renovation of early-childhood facilities.
Taxpayers bear a new federal cost stream (explicitly $100M/year for six years plus administrative/study costs), which could divert funds from other priorities or require additional appropriations.
HUD, grantees, and local developers face increased administrative and compliance burdens (complex reporting, prioritization rules, environmental and licensing requirements), which can delay awards and project starts.
Small and home-based child care providers may be disadvantaged by grant application conditions (business plans, licensing, environmental compliance, match capacity), reducing their ability to participate and possibly shrinking provider diversity.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Creates a HUD competitive grant program to fund co-located affordable housing and child care facilities and requires a GAO study on child care for public housing residents.
Creates a federal competitive grant program run by HUD to fund co-located affordable housing and child care facilities (planning, design, construction, conversion, retrofitting, preservation, and renovation) and sets application, certification, and priority rules for applicants. Requires HUD to consult HHS, Treasury (CDFI Fund), and USDA in designing the program, and mandates a GAO study on the availability, affordability, and barriers to child care for residents of public housing, with a report due within 12 months of enactment.