Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders unveiled a “Housing for All” plan Wednesday that he says will guarantee accessible housing for all Americans.
Sanders said in a statement that his plan would “guarantee every American — regardless of income — a fundamental right to a safe, decent, accessible, and affordable home” and would be paid by a wealth tax on the top 0.1% of earners.
“There is virtually no place in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a decent two bedroom apartment. At a time when half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, this is unacceptable,” he said. “For too long the federal government has ignored the extraordinary housing crisis in our country. That will end when I am president.”
Plan would cost $2.5 trillion:
The plan would invest $1.48 trillion over 10 years in the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to "build, rehabilitate, and preserve the 7.4 million quality, affordable and accessible housing units necessary to eliminate the affordable housing gap, which will remain affordable in perpetuity.”
Sanders also vowed to use “federal preemption laws to ensure these new units are not segregated or excluded by local zoning ordinances.”
The plan would also invest $400 billion to build 2 million mixed-income social housing units in an effort to desegregate communities. The plan would also “expand USDA’s Section 515 program by $500 million to build new affordable developments in rural areas, and protect existing units from being converted to market rate housing.” Sanders would also increase funding to the Indian Housing Block Grant Program to $3 billion to build affordable housing in Native American communities. The plan also calls for $70 billion to repair and modernize public housing.
Bernie vows to create national rent cap:
The plan would also set a national cap on rent increases. The plan would cap annual rent increases at “no more than 3 percent or 1.5 times the Consumer Price Index.”
The plan would allow local governments to pass even stronger standards and crease a “just-cause” requirement for evictions and provide funding to help people fight eviction and foreclosure proceedings. The plan would also “allow for landlords to apply for waivers if significant capital improvements are made, which will incentivize landlords to improve the conditions of their properties.”
