Sponsors (35)
The bill increases access to affordable, co-located child care for low-income families and public housing residents—supporting child development and parents' workforce participation—while creating new federal costs and administrative/regulatory burdens that could slow projects and leave some communities or small providers behind.
Low-income families and parents in public and subsidized housing gain greater access to on-site or nearby licensed child care through co-located developments and grant-funded slots.
Parents and working caregivers (especially in low-income households) experience reduced commute time and child care logistics stress, supporting higher workforce participation and more stable employment.
Children living in co-located developments gain earlier access to licensed early-childhood programs, which can support better early development outcomes.
Taxpayers face new and ongoing federal costs (notably the $100M/year FY2025–2030 program and other potential expenditures) that may divert funds from other priorities.
Administrative and regulatory burdens on HUD, grantees, housing developers, and child care providers (reporting, prioritization, environmental compliance, business planning, licensing) could slow award timelines and disadvantage smaller or home-based providers.
Grant design features — eligibility limits, application requirements, $10M-per-entity award cap, and matching or compliance expectations — may leave some needy communities without awards or make large projects harder to finance and complete.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Requires HUD to run competitive grants to support colocated affordable housing and child care facilities and directs GAO to study child care affordability for public housing residents.
Official title: To establish a grant program to address the crises in accessing affordable housing and child care through the co-location of housing and child care, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 23, 2025 by Suzanne Bonamici · Last progress January 23, 2025
Creates a HUD-administered competitive grant program to support building, converting, renovating, or preserving facilities that colocate affordable housing and child care providers, with application requirements and priorities for child care deserts, low-income, and rural areas. It also requires a GAO study on child care availability and affordability for public housing residents and how federal housing and benefit programs interact with child care costs.