Guiding Organizational Framework

• A National Housing and Homelessness or a People’s Commission to bring together people with experience and who most understand the issue and share data, accountability and effective strategies across programs and levels of government.
• A Tenants Bill of Rights can support housing, fair treatment, and the right for residents to organize, as detailed by People’s Action Home’s Guarantee platform.

Stabilize Prices

• Stabilizing land and property values against speculation by implementing a land value tax as well as proper incentives (taxes) on vacancies, absentee out-of-state ownership, and exploitative property flipping.
• Get land value and real estate off a speculative free-for-all spiral dominated by powerful interests and price setting monopolists. This can be addressed with the above and sensible limits on annual rent increases.

Improve Housing Supply – Jump Start Social Housing

The US is enormously behind on supply of housing that people can afford and sustain.

• A base of good social housing in walkable communities is key. In Vienna, and across much of Europe: social housing encompasses a wide array of mixed income affordable housing as a right, with public and private development and ownership models, including municipal and cooperative ownership and Limited Profit Housing Associations.
• A Homes Guarantee agenda must work in conjunction with Green New Deal projects that prioritize decarbonization, green jobs, and environmental justice.
• Protecting and expanding affordable housing development through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and cost-effective community development and land ownership.

Utilize Models That Work – End Homelessness

• Proven solutions include mission-oriented cross agency collaboration, rapid response prevention and rehousing programs, better outreach and low-entry coordination into rehousing, improved data sharing and transparency, anti-discrimination racial equity models, and non-construction housing stock expansion by identifying vacancies for conversions to social housing.