Contact: Johanna Kichton, press@peoplesaction.org, 202.660.0605
WASHINGTON, D.C.—People’s Action today released the following statement by Homes Guarantee Campaign Director Tara Raghuveer on the same day as voters head to the polls and put the tenant movement to the electoral test:
“Around the country, tenants have established themselves as a political force, especially in local elections. The pandemic illuminated the injustice in our housing system that prioritizes profits over people. Tenants have forced a reckoning about the status quo and presented a solution: guaranteed housing as a human right.
“Results from India Walton’s insurgent mayoral campaign in Buffalo, Michelle Wu’s promising mayoral bid in Boston, and rent control ballot measures in Minneapolis and St. Paul will be clear in the coming days. No matter the outcome, tenants have challenged the system that treats our homes as commodities and allows developers to buy and sell American cities.
“Tenants are wielding more power than ever before. This movement continues at the polls, in our neighborhoods, and in our homes. We are building the power we need to win game-changing policies like a National Tenants Bill of Rights and a Homes Guarantee.”
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People’s Action is a national network of 40 state and local grassroots, power-building organizations in 30 states, united in fighting for justice. We operate the largest progressive rural organizing project in the country. People’s Action and its member organizations coordinated one of the biggest distributed organizing programs in rural areas this past election season.