The past four years of HUD leadership and policy has been an unmitigated disaster. Instead of doing the work to repair a century of racist housing policies, the Trump Administration doubled down on it. Instead of working to decommodify housing and house more people, they shoveled more of our money at for profit developers during a deepening homelessness and affordability crisis.
We know another world is possible—and, we know how to accomplish it.
Grassroots organized tenants, homeowners, and manufactured home residents know what they and their communities need, not just to survive, but to thrive. They have devised blueprints for the immediate steps and long term steps the incoming Administration need to take—including making sure that impacted people are at every table for every decision.
The first job is to immediately address the eviction tsunami that the COVID-19 pandemic and economic crisis have created by instituting and enforcing a stronger eviction and foreclosure moratorium, canceling rent and mortgages, providing relief for small and non-profit landlords, and create and fund an aggressive acquisition pool to speed community and tenant ownership.
Representative Fudge and her team must also immediately reverse the damage that Carson and Trump have done by repealing and reversing the rules and policies outlined in 10 Reasons We’re Ready to Say Goodbye to Ben Carson.
Finally, the new Administration must chart a path toward a housing system that is organized around the fundamental human right to safe, affordable, decent housing. They must begin to put in place systems that move us from a profit based housing system steeped in racism and discrimination to one that is centered on community ownership and control. Those who have borne the brunt of our current system know how to fix it and are ready to work with the Biden/Harris administration, and Representative Fudge, to build a truly just system that makes housing guaranteed for all a reality.
Read more about our "Immediate Priorities and Approach Needed from a Biden/Harris Administration on Housing."
