Housing Justice

Across Pennsylvania, we are seeing a multifaceted housing crisis.

• An affordability crisis, seen by increasing costs associated with housing speculation.
• A displacement crisis caused by evictions, increased costs, and poor enforcement of housing standards.
• An exclusion crisis caused by discriminatory practices by landlords, property management companies and banks against Black people, families with children, LGBTQ people, disabled people and other protected classes.
• A health crisis caused by the bandaid home repairs and inadequate housing code enforcement.

We see these crises directly caused by the lack of control people have over their housing. We develop campaigns that target people in power to come up with short term solutions like turning on someone’s heat and long term solutions like Good Cause, or more money in a municipality’s budget to enforce housing codes. We use direct action in which people affected by the housing crisis lead the work to implement solutions. 

In Philadelphia we are building off of our historic housing work, the Freedom to Stay Housing Report (read here) by integrating a new project, called Renters United Philadelphia (RUP.) RUP is continuing its work to demand a pro-active rental inspection system that does not lead to the displacement of renters in Philadelphia. In Allegheny county we are organizing for safe and healthy permanently affordable housing. Nationally we support the House Everyone Campaign to demand Green Social Housing: permanently affordable, community controlled and sustainable housing.