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 Highlights of the Convention Message from National Organizer Tony Mazzocchi Convention Resolutions Sign up for Email Updates Join the Labor Party! |
Build
the Future: Labor Party Convention and Conference Resolutions and Constitutional Amendments Policy on Good-Quality, Safe and Affordable Housing Resolution Whereas, well maintained, affordable and accessible housing is a basic human need. Its universal provision should be readily available in a nation as prosperous as the United States. However, at the present time millions of Americans are either unable to rent or purchase decent housing, or if able to obtain a good-quality housing, pay a disproportionate share of their income for shelter, and Whereas, this situation results from the longstanding shortfall in affordable housing production in the private sector, substantial real estate inflation over the last generation, three decades of income stagnation among working-class Americans, and the federal government's declining support for affordable housing construction, and Whereas, recommitting government at all levels to ensure that every American is able to find good-quality housing represents an opportunity as well as a challenge. For too long, housing construction in the United States has proceeded as if the achievement of congenial communities is the direct and unerring result of market forces, that currently determine where people live, what kinds of shelter they will be able to rent/purchase, and who will share their communities with them, and Whereas, the federal government should underwrite housing construction aimed to meet the needs of that portion of the American population that cannot obtain good-quality housing, and the federal government must induce private developers and state/local governments to create well-planned communities that are within the reach of all citizens, and Whereas, the federal government must alter the IRS code to offer relief to those working class and middle income Americans who have obtained good-quality housing, but in doing so devote a disproportionate share of their annual income to shelter costs, and Whereas, the federal government's fiscal support for affordable housing development should make greater use of the burgeoning non-profit housing sector, which over the past two decades has demonstrated great skill in building and rehabilitating affordable housing, as well as reinforcing the social fabric of inner-city, suburban and rural communities, and Whereas, federal government support for affordable housing development should also be used to induce state and local governments to plan communities that are accessible to all Americans and link housing, work, commercial and recreational spaces in an ecologically sound manner, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED That the Second Constitutional Convention of the Labor Party calls for good-quality, safe and affordable housing in the United States, and Be it further resolved that we demand: · Federal government support for the delivery of good-quality, safe and affordable housing to every American, and · Commitment of funds for a rental housing production program giving priority to families earned less than $20,000 per year, such as envisioned by the proposed National Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and · Housing subsidy program requirements (tied to tax subsidies such as · homeowner's mortgage interest and local property tax write-offs, as well as to fiscal support for affordable housing production) that will induce state and local government's to institute socially inclusive and environmentally conscientious land-use planning practices, and · An income tax write-off made available to renters and homeowners who have lived in their current dwelling for more than five years and whose housing costs (rental payments or mortgage payments plus local property taxes) exceed 40% of their family income (the latter "capped" at gross earnings of $100,000 per year), and · A continuing commitment by federal and state governments to Davis-Bacon, and · The reinstatement of one-for-one replacement of demolished, public housing units as well as a restructuring of the HOPE VI program to ensure thorough public-housing resident participation in redevelopment planning and the creation of truly inclusive new residential communities, and · A continuing commitment by the federal government to maintain good-quality, safe and affordable public housing, and · The provision of accessible housing in the communities of their choice for senior citizens and persons with disabilities. |
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