Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is simple: in the wealthiest country in world's history, we can and we must guarantee that everyone has a home. (Photo: Caelie_Frampton/flickr/cc)
We Need a Homes Guarantee. Now
A grassroots-led effort aims to ensure every person in the United States has safe, accessible, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing.
I lost everything during the financial crisis. The government decided that the perpetrators of the crisis were "too big to fail" and bailed them out with our money. I was not bailed out.
Today, a decade after the crisis, I'm part of a grassroots-led effort to ensure every person in the United States has safe, accessible, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing. I don't want anyone to have to go through what I've gone through.
After the crash, I had to change my whole life. I didn't have a 401(k) retirement account to fall back on. I had to cancel travel plans. I had to find a place to live.
I moved into a building owned by a non-profit, but just six months later I learned that it was for sale to the highest for-profit bidder. My neighbors, 120 people aged 65 to 92, were traumatized by the threat of homelessness. I had visions of ending up on the street with my cat. Fortunately, we were able to organize and save our homes.
But now we struggle with our new landlord, the Chicago Housing Authority. In our city, seniors in public housing use ovens to stay warm in winter and ride on out-of-code elevators. Others are wait-listed for years before they can get an apartment.
My friend Stephanie died because of conditions in senior housing last year. She always used to say, "This is war, Linda. This is war."
My story is not isolated or extreme, but rather very typical of America's systemic housing emergency. In 2019, a full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any county -- urban, suburban, or rural--in the United States. Twenty-one million households, disproportionately people of color, spend over 30 percent of their income on housing.
Land will be stewarded by and on behalf of everyday people like me instead of developers and landlords out to make the biggest profit.
Only one in five households that qualify for federal housing assistance receives it. America has betrayed public housing communities through decades of racist disinvestment and neglect. Too often, residents face a brutal choice between appalling conditions or rehousing promises that are insufficient--less affordable, far away--or simply never materialize. Millions live one medical bill, flat tire, or other life event away from homelessness.
My story, Stephanie's story, the stories of my neighbors, and the scale of the national crisis are why I'm a proud leader with the campaign for a national Homes Guarantee. Over the past two years, we've determined that we, the people closest to the problems, had to envision our own solutions.
Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is simple: in the wealthiest country in world's history, we can and we must guarantee that everyone has a home.
The Homes Guarantee calls for building 12 million social housing units and reinvestment in existing crumbling public housing. We also need stronger protections for renters, as well as tenants and former homeowners living in recently or about to be foreclosed homes.
Our vision would also address the need for reparations for centuries of racist housing policies, like redlining and other forms of discrimination. To help our country address the climate crisis, we also call for energy efficiency investments that would slash carbon emissions.
Fully realized, our proposal will guarantee homes for all. Rents will be set based on our needs and real costs to local government, rather than speculative market prices. Land will be stewarded by and on behalf of everyday people like me instead of developers and landlords out to make the biggest profit.
Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is radical. It is also necessary.
I can't wait anymore--and neither can my neighbors.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just two days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
I lost everything during the financial crisis. The government decided that the perpetrators of the crisis were "too big to fail" and bailed them out with our money. I was not bailed out.
Today, a decade after the crisis, I'm part of a grassroots-led effort to ensure every person in the United States has safe, accessible, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing. I don't want anyone to have to go through what I've gone through.
After the crash, I had to change my whole life. I didn't have a 401(k) retirement account to fall back on. I had to cancel travel plans. I had to find a place to live.
I moved into a building owned by a non-profit, but just six months later I learned that it was for sale to the highest for-profit bidder. My neighbors, 120 people aged 65 to 92, were traumatized by the threat of homelessness. I had visions of ending up on the street with my cat. Fortunately, we were able to organize and save our homes.
But now we struggle with our new landlord, the Chicago Housing Authority. In our city, seniors in public housing use ovens to stay warm in winter and ride on out-of-code elevators. Others are wait-listed for years before they can get an apartment.
My friend Stephanie died because of conditions in senior housing last year. She always used to say, "This is war, Linda. This is war."
My story is not isolated or extreme, but rather very typical of America's systemic housing emergency. In 2019, a full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any county -- urban, suburban, or rural--in the United States. Twenty-one million households, disproportionately people of color, spend over 30 percent of their income on housing.
Land will be stewarded by and on behalf of everyday people like me instead of developers and landlords out to make the biggest profit.
Only one in five households that qualify for federal housing assistance receives it. America has betrayed public housing communities through decades of racist disinvestment and neglect. Too often, residents face a brutal choice between appalling conditions or rehousing promises that are insufficient--less affordable, far away--or simply never materialize. Millions live one medical bill, flat tire, or other life event away from homelessness.
My story, Stephanie's story, the stories of my neighbors, and the scale of the national crisis are why I'm a proud leader with the campaign for a national Homes Guarantee. Over the past two years, we've determined that we, the people closest to the problems, had to envision our own solutions.
Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is simple: in the wealthiest country in world's history, we can and we must guarantee that everyone has a home.
The Homes Guarantee calls for building 12 million social housing units and reinvestment in existing crumbling public housing. We also need stronger protections for renters, as well as tenants and former homeowners living in recently or about to be foreclosed homes.
Our vision would also address the need for reparations for centuries of racist housing policies, like redlining and other forms of discrimination. To help our country address the climate crisis, we also call for energy efficiency investments that would slash carbon emissions.
Fully realized, our proposal will guarantee homes for all. Rents will be set based on our needs and real costs to local government, rather than speculative market prices. Land will be stewarded by and on behalf of everyday people like me instead of developers and landlords out to make the biggest profit.
Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is radical. It is also necessary.
I can't wait anymore--and neither can my neighbors.
I lost everything during the financial crisis. The government decided that the perpetrators of the crisis were "too big to fail" and bailed them out with our money. I was not bailed out.
Today, a decade after the crisis, I'm part of a grassroots-led effort to ensure every person in the United States has safe, accessible, sustainable, and permanently affordable housing. I don't want anyone to have to go through what I've gone through.
After the crash, I had to change my whole life. I didn't have a 401(k) retirement account to fall back on. I had to cancel travel plans. I had to find a place to live.
I moved into a building owned by a non-profit, but just six months later I learned that it was for sale to the highest for-profit bidder. My neighbors, 120 people aged 65 to 92, were traumatized by the threat of homelessness. I had visions of ending up on the street with my cat. Fortunately, we were able to organize and save our homes.
But now we struggle with our new landlord, the Chicago Housing Authority. In our city, seniors in public housing use ovens to stay warm in winter and ride on out-of-code elevators. Others are wait-listed for years before they can get an apartment.
My friend Stephanie died because of conditions in senior housing last year. She always used to say, "This is war, Linda. This is war."
My story is not isolated or extreme, but rather very typical of America's systemic housing emergency. In 2019, a full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford a two-bedroom apartment in any county -- urban, suburban, or rural--in the United States. Twenty-one million households, disproportionately people of color, spend over 30 percent of their income on housing.
Land will be stewarded by and on behalf of everyday people like me instead of developers and landlords out to make the biggest profit.
Only one in five households that qualify for federal housing assistance receives it. America has betrayed public housing communities through decades of racist disinvestment and neglect. Too often, residents face a brutal choice between appalling conditions or rehousing promises that are insufficient--less affordable, far away--or simply never materialize. Millions live one medical bill, flat tire, or other life event away from homelessness.
My story, Stephanie's story, the stories of my neighbors, and the scale of the national crisis are why I'm a proud leader with the campaign for a national Homes Guarantee. Over the past two years, we've determined that we, the people closest to the problems, had to envision our own solutions.
Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is simple: in the wealthiest country in world's history, we can and we must guarantee that everyone has a home.
The Homes Guarantee calls for building 12 million social housing units and reinvestment in existing crumbling public housing. We also need stronger protections for renters, as well as tenants and former homeowners living in recently or about to be foreclosed homes.
Our vision would also address the need for reparations for centuries of racist housing policies, like redlining and other forms of discrimination. To help our country address the climate crisis, we also call for energy efficiency investments that would slash carbon emissions.
Fully realized, our proposal will guarantee homes for all. Rents will be set based on our needs and real costs to local government, rather than speculative market prices. Land will be stewarded by and on behalf of everyday people like me instead of developers and landlords out to make the biggest profit.
Our vision for a Homes Guarantee is radical. It is also necessary.
I can't wait anymore--and neither can my neighbors.