Housing

Housing Is A Basic Human Right

Every person in this country deserves access to safe, affordable, and dignified housing. But our current system is failing—both the people left unhoused and the millions more who are barely scraping by to keep a roof over their heads.

This is not just a crisis of affordability. It’s a crisis of political will.

The Facts

  • As of January 2024, more than 771,000 people are homeless in the United States—an 18% increase from the year before.

  • Over 32,000 veterans—people who risked their lives for this country—are living on the streets or in shelters.

  • Since 2010, median rent has risen 80% and home prices have climbed 133%, while wages have only grown 50%.

  • Nearly half of all renters and over a quarter of homeowners spend more than 30% of their income on housing—putting them on the brink of financial instability.

  • The U.S. is short between 4.5 to 7.4 million homes, and housing construction remains far below what’s needed.

This didn’t happen overnight—and it won’t be solved with half-measures. We need bold, structural reform.

A New Approach to Housing

We must rethink how we build, where we build, and who gets to live in the communities we’re creating. That means:

Modernize Zoning to Build More, Smarter

  • Automatically upzone all single-family residential lots within a ½ mile of rapid transit (rail, subway, or bus) in cities with populations over 250,000. Allow up to six housing units per lot—increasing density, reducing prices, and expanding access.

  • Legalize multi-family housing and mixed-use zoning to reflect how people actually live and commute—not just how things were built decades ago.

  • Remove outdated parking mandates that block housing construction. Cities that eliminate minimum parking requirements should receive additional HUD funding as an incentive.

Convert What We Already Have

  • Incentivize the conversion of vacant commercial spaces into residential units. With 20–24% of commercial space expected to remain vacant, we have a historic opportunity to repurpose buildings for homes instead of leaving them to decay.

Empower First-Time Buyers and Working Families

  • Offer up to $50,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers.

  • Ban hedge funds and institutional investors from buying up single-family homes. Housing is for families, not financial portfolios.

End Corporate Gatekeeping

  • Ban government subsidies for companies whose full-time workers rely on public assistance because of low wages.

  • Provide grants to developers building mixed-use and mixed-income housing, especially near transit corridors and job centers.

Guarantee Housing For Veterans

Currently, we have over 32,000 veterans sleeping on the streets on a given night. These are men & women who risked their lives to defend this country, only to have resources and support systems ripped away in favor of corporate profits. We need to end homelessness in this country, and we can start be ensuring that every single veteran has access to shelter.

And it would cost as much as $10 billion per year to address, which we could pay for by implementing a 3% wealth tax on ONLY Elon Musk!

  • Fully Fund and Expand HUD-VASH & SSVF Programs

    • Increase permanent supportive housing vouchers and prevention services targeted at veterans, with no waitlists.

  • Create Veteran Housing Trusts in Every State

    • Dedicate funds for building veteran-specific housing communities with on-site health care, counseling, and job training.

  • One-Stop Veteran Resource Centers

    • Establish local hubs where veterans can access housing placement, VA benefits, legal aid, and mental health care under one roof.

A Better Future Starts at Home

Affordable housing isn’t just a policy issue—it’s the foundation of stable families, thriving communities, and a functioning economy. When people have stable housing, everything else becomes possible: better health, stronger education outcomes, and real economic mobility.

We don’t need to accept rising homelessness, unaffordable rents, or entire generations locked out of homeownership. We have the tools. We have the data. What we need now is the courage to act.

It’s time to stop treating housing as an investment vehicle for Wall Street—and start treating it as a human right.