Lake County residents are rightly concerned about housing availability for everyone and effective plans to end homelessness. Making choices in our upcoming presidential primaries, it’s clear to me that housing platforms are one way to distinguish merits of each hopeful.

Bernie Sanders took the lead with 2016 legislation for the first federally funded affordable housing program funded in several decades. As a result, $905 million was invested from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac programs toward construction, rehabilitation and preservation of affordable housing.

Sanders’ current proposals address the need for millions of apartments and homes that will remain affordable in perpetuity and serve future generations. This process offers millions of good-paying jobs.

Additionally, Sanders’ plan is to invest $1.48 trillion over 10 years in the National Affordable Trust Fund to build, rehabilitate and preserve 7.4 million quality, accessible housing units. This fund mixes income developments.

Relevant to Lake County, his proposals include $500 million to build new affordable developments in rural areas and protect existing units from being converted to market-rate housing. Presently 7.7 million families in America are forced to pay more than half their limited incomes on rent even while eligible for Section 8 rental assistance.

Homeownership has not recovered from the 2008 housing crisis. Fair housing, public housing repairs and deep energy retrofits are included in the Sanders housing platform.

Careful study of housing proposals by other presidential candidates fails to convince this reader. Well-thought-out, serious financial approaches proposed by Sanders, encourage this voter that the radical change we need is possible.

Chloe Karl lives in Lakeport, California.