People’s Action released its vision for a national “Homes Guarantee” policy on September 5. The proposal involves “proactive” and “reparative” approaches to address the root causes of housing instability and homelessness in the U.S. People’s Action states that if the proposal is fully realized, structural reforms will be established to guarantee safe, sustainable, accessible, and affordable housing for all people.
The People’s Action Homes Guarantee would create 12 million new social housing units over the next ten years to provide homes to the millions of people experiencing homelessness each year and the 12 million renter households who are severely housing cost-burdened. The proposal recommends the national Housing Trust Fund provide operating subsidies to ensure these homes are affordable to very low-income and extremely low-income households.
The plan also advocates for reinvesting in existing public housing infrastructure and paying reparations to communities impacted by discriminatory housing policy. The Homes Guarantee promotes investing $150 billion over the next five years to preserve and rehabilitate public housing. This reinvestment seeks to eliminate the unsafe living environments and racialized housing inequities created by the government’s failure to adequately fund the ongoing maintenance of public housing.
The Homes Guarantee would strengthen the Fair Housing Act and provide resources for tenants to ensure their basic rights are protected. A National Tenants’ Bill of Rights would establish universal rent control, prohibit evictions without good cause, and provide universal access to free lawyers for low-income renters.
People’s Action states that the vision for a national Homes Guarantee was created by over 100 grassroots leaders of the People’s Action network, who drew on their personal experiences with housing insecurity to establish an initial framework for the Homes Guarantee over a year ago. Peoples Action then sought and received feedback from housing policy advocates and experts. To realize the vision of the Homes Guarantee, People’s Action plans to continue revising the proposal, mobilizing public support, and engaging with partners, advocates, candidates, and elected officials.
Read the full plan at: https://homesguarantee.com