GREEN SOCIAL HOUSING
Housing is a human right.
Everyone deserves to live in stable, affordable, and healthy housing. But right now, housing is built for profit, not for people. This causes rent hikes that outpace wages, rising utilities that put people in debt, and a lack of housing that’s truly affordable.
A Housing and climate crisis
In California, every day we see how the affordable housing crisis and climate crisis are linked. Housing insecurity makes Californians more vulnerable to climate impacts and disasters, which are becoming more frequent and extreme. Climate disasters are fueling the housing crisis, as destructive wildfires, flooding, and sea level rise threaten homes and entire communities. Our current housing is also polluting our air and increasing carbon emissions, harming our health and worsening climate change.
Green Social Housing is:
Permanently affordable: Families and individuals pay what they can actually afford, forever.
Decommodified: Housing is not produced and owned to maximize profits. It’s owned publicly or by the community, and produced to meet a human need.
Resident-controlled: Residents are empowered to actively participate in managing their housing, instead of being at the whim of a profit-driven landlord.
Green and healthy: Healthy homes without dirty fossil fuels that are close to services and transit.
So what would a climate and housing solution look like?
The California Green New Deal Coalition is fighting for green social housing to address the affordable housing crisis, create healthy homes, and to take land and housing out of the hands of for-profit corporations and into the hands of communities.
But could false “climate solutions” make the housing crisis worse?
YES! Climate solutions without centering justice threaten to make the housing crisis even worse.
Climate investments in retrofitting and upgrading homes may lead to rising rents, surges in evictions, and the loss of affordable units.
Community-level investment stocks in public transit, parks, resilience centers, and community services could lead to displacement and gentrification.
Green social housing is a CLIMATE JUSTICE solution.
Green social housing is a vision for returning the land and housing back to community hands. We call for housing not to be treated as a speculative commodity for corporations to reap for profit, but as a human right that we provide to everyone. We demand investments to upgrade and decarbonize our homes to benefit residents and meet our climate goals. We stand in solidarity with the Land Back movement, returning land to indigenous stewardship and ensuring that Tribal communities have the resources they need to house their people.
Get involved with Green Social Housing
As we embark on this exciting new journey to create sustainable and affordable housing, we believe community involvement is crucial to our success.
That’s why we’re reaching out to you! Our community!
Join us in shaping the future of green social housing. We welcome your input, ideas, and feedback on how we can make our campaign a success. Whether you have experience in sustainable architecture, community organizing, or a passion for environmental & housing justice, we want to hear from you!
Green Social Housing Newsletter
Each Friday we send out our “This Week in Green Social Housing” weekly newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter here, and see our archive of previous posts.