john, this is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Senator Tina Smith and I have received a lot of questions since we introduced our plan to fight the housing crisis by creating a federal housing authority to finance and build millions of homes across America: the Homes Act.
One question in particular — “Why would the bill cap rent at 25% of a household’s adjusted gross income?” — stuck out to me as one of the things that I find to be so fun about legislation (dare I say).
When it actually comes to bringing a vision of the world to life, a lot of times it’s like putting a puzzle together. We have to answer very refined questions: Why this amount of money? What is sustainable?
For that 25% cap, the question for us was: What amount is audacious, but also within striking distance of building a political coalition to pass the House and the Senate? What amount gets us that mix of deeply affordable, integrated communities that would garner public support?
Public goods are their strongest and most resilient — in a policy sense, and politically — when they are integrated. That’s why I believe social housing should be widely accessible.
Like food or healthcare, housing is a human right. We are fighting now against privatization of the housing market and for the creation of good, union jobs to build homes that last — and are affordable to all.
Will you split a $2 contribution today — $1 for each of our teams — so that we can keep pushing to give millions of Americans a safe, comfortable and affordable place to call home?
I also believe that being able to age or raise a family in the same place is profoundly important.
Community is sacred. It’s just good for the country to be able to walk outside, and have neighbors you’ve known since you were a kid. This is a big part of what the privatization of the housing market has actually taken from us: a culture of continuity and community.
It’s actually eroding our social fabric, which then supercharges the potency of divisive tactics and other things we see weaponized by the right in our politics.
But together, we’ve built a movement fighting for protecting our community values — from expanding affordable, accessible healthcare to enshrining housing as a human right.
Help us continue the fight by splitting a grassroots donation between our campaigns today.
In solidarity,
Alexandria
