Resolution #40 Housing as a Human Right
Affected Items & Short Rationale
R40 Housing as a Human Right
We all need a place to live! As socialists, our work must directly confront why so many people experience homelessness and housing insecurity: Capitalism.
Why Is Build Endorsing R40 Housing as a Human Right?
Shelter is essential to life
Landlords know this, which is why the rent is so high.
Landlords and other real estate interests have huge influence in local governments across the country, and they use that power to keep rents high, leaving many of us homeless and many more of us in precarious housing positions.
This is a direct result of the private, capitalist housing market, and we can confront it head-on through tenant organizing, fighting for public housing, decriminalizing homelessness, and other methods, all through locally winnable fights that will help people and build DSA’s capacity.
We know how to win on this, and we can take this fight nationwide
DSA locals across the country have already fought and won with tenant organizing that prevents evictions and local initiatives that vastly expand affordable, decommidified housing.
We can use those lessons learned to build a framework to expand the fight for housing justice across the country.
Frequently Asked Questions
Concern: What about the other housing proposals? What makes this one better?
Answer: While they accomplish similar things, #40 “Housing as a Human Right” is the most comprehensive and inclusive of these items. It lays out the creation of a national working group for those involved in housing organizing to plan and communicate, and also provides direction for education on those new to the fight in locals starting their own housing work.
Concern: Why should we prioritize housing work as socialists?
Answer: Land ownership and the extraction of rent from it is a huge source of profit for the wealthy and a major source of misery for the rest of us. They know that we need a place to live, and that power is constantly held over us. No amount of good work we do in other spheres will make this disappear, we have to confront it directly, continuing and expanding the work that many in DSA are already doing.