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Hi John,
It’s time we got serious about solving the housing crisis. Big problems require big solutions—incremental fixes or temporary band-aids always have and always will fail to mitigate society-wide problems like the housing crisis.
The City Council here in Philadelphia—much like elsewhere—attempts the same quick fixes over and over again, and nothing ever gets fixed. It’s simply not working.
For problems of this magnitude, Dr Martin Luther King Jr once noted: We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power. Sadly for us Philadelphians, City Council has yet to agree.
Rents here in Philly have increased by more than 5% just this year. And while that may not seem like a lot to some who are reading this, for renters—which is most of us—these price hikes are exorbitant.
Rent in Philly for a measly 500 square-foot studio apartment now costs an average of $1,600 a month. The cost of a one-bedroom apartment averages around $1,900 a month. These are not high-end, luxury apartments; they are basic units in decent neighborhoods. And yet, they’ll cost you a premium.
None of us in the working class in Philadelphia can afford our rent, and many of us are facing the very real possibility of eviction if we can’t come up with more money each and every month. I assume the real estate developers don’t experience quite the same monthly anxiety or struggle—though their penthouse condos certainly cost a fortune.
During this unprecedented moment, we must make it clear that we will not return to the same old establishment politics. We cannot ignore the needs of the vast majority of people who make up our nation’s cities—and keep them running. We cannot accept government policy which enables the very rich to get much richer while a majority of us live in economic desperation. And we cannot keep going on and on as if it’s business, or politics, as usual.
Now is the time for real conviction and real solutions: Let us have the courage to take back our political power from the corporations and big businesses who’ve stolen it. Let us fight back against the real estate developers who’ve coopted the system, corrupting it so it serves their interests rather than ours. It is time we put a housing advocate on our City Council and replaced the real estate mogul. And it’s time we push for serious transformations with how we live, how we govern, and how we elect candidates who represent us.
We are in the midst of the most expensive Senate race in Pennsylvania’s history. And I can’t help but wonder: what would everyone’s life be like if the millions spent on 30-second tv ads and digital streaming had been invested into everyday people instead. And when all this is over in two weeks, and all that's left are some used up yard signs, a half-million angry facebook comments, and a few mean tweets about crudité, I wonder if we’ll regret that we didn’t get a bit more for the money.
Something has to change.
The truth is that the crises we face are enormous, and we have got to think big, not small. No more turning a blind-eye, we can meet challenges like affordable housing head on—and we can solve this. Housing can become a human right.
That is why I am asking you directly: Please make a $5 contribution to help build the kind of organizing effort we’ll need to advance a bold, progressive agenda that will effectively address the needs of the working class—in our city, and in yours.
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