Dear John,
Addressing the housing crisis in this country demands urgent and innovative solutions. One obvious solution is all around us: the countless empty office buildings that stand unused across hundreds of cities.
Every day, millions of individuals and families in our country struggle to secure affordable quality housing for themselves and their families, often sacrificing over half of their wages to keep a roof over their heads, while others experience housing instability and houselessness. Meanwhile, a staggering disparity persists, as the ultra-rich in America own on average nine homes.1
The numbers speak for themselves. Right now, nearly 1 billion square feet of office space is currently sitting vacant in the United States.2 Add your name to the petition and help repurpose these empty office buildings into affordable housing for all!
Together, we can make affordable housing for all a reality! Urge elected officials to streamline the permitting process, revise zoning laws, establish tax exemptions and abatements, and create funding and grants to drive and incentivize conversions.
Sign Now
Instead of trying to turn the clock back and insist employees who went remote at the beginning of COVID-19 return to the office—forcing people to make impossible choices between their families, health, and work—we can use this moment to reimagine what’s possible and innovate to meet our country's most urgent and pressing needs.
Legislation in California has already been introduced to make it easier to turn office buildings into affordable housing, and local elected officials in cities like Pittsburgh and New York City have also eased restrictions to incentivize reimagining vacant buildings into housing.3,4 Add your name to help this movement spread across the country.
This solution is not only good for people, it’s good for the environment. New construction accounts for 11% of global carbon emissions.5 Repurposing existing buildings rather than starting construction from scratch offers a more sustainable pathway to addressing our housing crisis and urgent environmental priorities at the scale we desperately need.
Join us in telling elected officials to make this a reality in neighborhoods, cities, and states across the country. Sign the petition today, and then pass it along to your loved ones to spread the word.
Thanks for all you do.
–MoveOn
Sources:
1. "Here's How Many Homes the Average Billionaire Now Owns," Fortune, December 2, 2016
https://fortune.com/2016/12/02/aig-study-billionaires-wealth-gap/
2. "Visualizing 1 Billion Square Feet of Empty Office Space," Visual Capitalist, July 7, 2023
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/visualizing-1-billion-square-feet-of-empty-office-space/
3. "New York Plans to Open Parts of Midtown Manhattan to Housing," The New York Times, August 17, 2023
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/17/nyregion/eric-adams-midtown-rezoning-housing.html
4. "Pittsburgh City Council looking to repurpose old office building for affordable housing," CBS News Pittsburgh, July 27, 2023
https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/news/pittsburgh-city-council-looking-to-repurpose-old-office-building-for-affordable-housing/
5. "Turning unused office space into housing could solve 2 problems, but it's tricky," NPR, July 24, 2023
https://www.npr.org/2023/07/24/1189403058/downtown-real-estate-housing-offices
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG CIVIC ACTION
