Labor’s Housing Agenda: Creating Abundance for Workers & Communities

Housing unaffordability deeply affects working people across the U.S. Home ownership has slipped out of reach for many, and a majority of renters spend over 30% of gross income on housing. In the face of this crisis, states and cities are facing increasing pressure to cut regulations to facilitate housing construction (including pressure to adopt an "abundance" agenda that often sees worker protections as an obstacle to building housing quickly). It is time to create a "building the right way" agenda that allows state and local policymakers to see housing construction and worker fairness as complementary goals, rather than contradictory aspirations.

This session will explore how labor unions and community organizations are advancing innovative policy solutions to the housing crisis. From tying strong labor standards to public investments in affordable housing, to deploying labor's capital to build affordable housing and create good union jobs, integrating demands for housing into collective bargaining, or creating new local funding streams for new forms of public housing to make up for gaps in federal support, labor and allied social movements are addressing the housing crisis with bold solutions that can be cross-pollinated and scaled nationwide. The session will introduce case studies from a range of states and facilitate conversation on how to craft a policy and messaging agenda capable of convincing elected officials to embrace high-road construction of housing.