Progressives propose landmark housing legislation to rebuild America

Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) have reintroduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, landmark housing legislation that would rebuild the United States’ public housing stock, address the longstanding capital backlog, and create thousands of union jobs.

This bill provides a much-needed infusion of federal funding to update every public housing unit through weatherization, electrification, and modernization so that it may serve as a model of efficiency, sustainability, and resiliency for the rest of the nation.

The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act promises to deliver a generational rebuild of our nation’s public housing stock, while reducing emissions and creating hundreds of thousands of union jobs, including opportunities for public housing residents.

This Congress, the bill was newly endorsed by three building trades unions: the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (IUBAC), the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART), and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT).

“From record-breaking heat waves to extreme flooding displacing public housing residents, Americans are feeling the parallel impacts of the housing and climate crisis. Now more than ever, it is integral that Congress put forward bold solutions that ensure our nation’s housing stock is both affordable and resilient,” said Ocasio-Cortez.

“This Congress, we received our first endorsements from three building trades unions,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “We are proud to fight for a bold future for public housing alongside the people who will build it.”

“Safe, sustainable, resilient, affordable housing is a HUMAN RIGHT, plain and simple. The policies we advance in Congress must help us realize that truth for EVERYONE. As our nation reckons with both a worsening housing crisis and urgent climate crisis, we must fight for and realize bold policy action and investment,” said Ramirez.

“As the current administration attacks affordable housing funding, I am proud to stand with Representative Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Sanders to reintroduce legislation that will secure the future of our public housing, prioritize climate and racial justice, and boost our economy and labor force,” said Ramirez. “The Green New Deal for Public Housing is a bold solution to our national housing problem”

“In the richest country in the history of the world, it is unacceptable that our nation’s public housing is in a state of chronic disrepair,” said Sanders. “It is unacceptable that hundreds of millions of Americans are facing the disastrous impacts of climate change while the fossil fuel industry makes huge profits. And it is unacceptable that far too many Americans are working multiple jobs just to keep a roof over their head.”

“What the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act does is say that yes, we can create decent and affordable public housing for more than 1.5 million Americans that is based on energy efficiency and sustainable sources of power,” said Sanders. “And that when we do that, we can also create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, union jobs. That is a win-win-win situation.”

The bill would create seven grant programs under one application process to modernize our public housing stock through:

• Deep energy retrofits to increase energy savings in nearly a million public housing units;
• Workforce development programs, prioritizing good-paying job opportunities for residents;
• Energy efficiency, building electrification, and water quality upgrades;
• Community renewable energy generation, the profits of which will be controlled by Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) to boost their coffers and increase self-sufficiency;
• Community resiliency and sustainability measures;
• Climate adaptation and emergency disaster response systems.

“The United States faces a serious housing crisis, one which intensifies with every passing year. Grounded in strong protections for workers, the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act tackles this crisis in part by mandating fair wages, benefits, and labor standards as a requirement for funding public housing upgrades. The International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers urges Congress to act quickly to enact this much-needed legislation,” said Tim Driscoll, President, IUBAC.

“The Green New Deal for Public Housing is the most significant investment in preserving and improving public housing that we’ve seen in generations,” said Shamus Roller, Chief Executive Officer of the National Housing Law Project. “This bill will preserve hundreds of thousands of safe, affordable homes for those who need them the most, while centering public housing residents at every stage in the process.”

“It enables communities to retain and modernize their homes by bringing units up to code, dramatically improving energy efficiency, and unlocking on-site renewable energy infrastructure, all while removing outdated limits on the construction of new public housing,” said Roller.

“We are living through a housing crisis decades in the making. After years of federal underfunding, public housing residents are enduring record heat in homes that need repair. It does not have to be this way,” said DaMareo Cooper, Executive Director of Popular Democracy. “The Green New Deal for Public Housing repairs the homes of 1.6 million tenants and families, creates 280,000 good union jobs with residents hired first, and puts working people at the center of decisions about their own communities. That is what democracy looks like.”

The legislation is co-sponsored by 40 representatives, and it also has six co-sponsors in the Senate.

Progressive New Jersey Democrat Lisa McCormick voiced strong support for the sweeping legislative proposal aimed at transforming the nation’s public housing stock while addressing the deepening affordability crisis.

“The legislation is endorsed by a broad coalition of labor unions, environmental groups, housing justice advocates and community organizations from across the country,” McCormick said.

The bill has garnered support from more than two dozen organizations, including the Alliance for a Greater New York, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the California Green New Deal Coalition, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, Food and Water Watch, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Labor Network for Sustainability, the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the Sunrise Movement and many other groups.

McCormick emphasized the scale of investment the legislation would unlock.

“The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act would invest $16 to $23 billion in green renovations for public housing across the country, each year for 10 years,” she said.

She explained that the funding would address a longstanding capital backlog that has grown to $169 billion nationally, creating livability and habitability problems for residents.

“The backlog has created serious livability and habitability problems for residents living in public housing,” McCormick said.

Turning to New Jersey’s housing crisis, McCormick painted a stark picture of the challenges facing families across the state.

“New Jersey faces a severe housing affordability crunch, with roughly 48% to 52% of renter households classified as cost-burdened by spending over 30% of their income on housing,” she said.

She noted that multiple factors continue to drive housing instability and homelessness.

“Low-income families, rising median home prices over $537,000, and an acute shortage of available low-income units continue to drive housing instability and homelessness across the state,” McCormick said.

The Democrat highlighted New Jersey’s status as one of the most expensive states for renters nationwide.

“Full-time workers need to earn $43.89 per hour to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent,” said. McCormick, who also pointed to the severe shortage of affordable housing for the state’s lowest-income residents.

“There are roughly 34 to 44 affordable rental homes available for every 100 extremely low-income households in the state,” said McCormick.

She described the growing disconnect between wages and housing costs.

“While market rents and home values have surged over the past decade, average renter wages trail far behind the actual income required to maintain stable housing,” McCormick said.

The burden, she added, falls overwhelmingly on lower-income residents.

“Nearly three-quarters of households earning under $75,000 face cost burdens,” she said.

McCormick warned that the scarcity of affordable housing has had dire consequences.

“A scarcity of affordable vacancies combined with rising housing costs has spiked statewide homelessness numbers and kept eviction threats high,” she said.