arrow Alt-Erlaa, a social housing development in Vienna. Rob Schofield / Flickr
The affordable housing crisis is expected to be one of the most pressing and difficult challenges facing the next mayor. In New York City, 42% of renters are rent-burdened, which means they pay more than 30% of their income toward rent. All of the leading democratic candidates have called for new strategies, but Dianne Morales has gone the farthest by proposing a fundamental shift in how the city views affordable housing development treating housing as a public good and moving away from projects that are driven by private developers.
It s an idea known as social housing, which is rooted in European models of government subsidized housing that experts say go far beyond the U.S. version of affordable housing by not only addressing cost but also racial segregation and democratic control by residents. The term has gained traction among the left wing of the Democratic Party in recent years;
NationofChange
Itâs a myth that presidents welcome movement pressureâand Biden is no different
Rather than directing constituents to take to the streets, it is far more common for elected officials to fear the disruptive possibilities of a mobilized base.
Image Credit: Joe Brusky
In early 2009, as Barack Obama prepared to move into the White House, a particular historical anecdote rapidly gained in popularity, repeated in dozens of talks and articles as a parable for how supporters should
respond to the new president taking office. The story related a New
Deal-era encounter between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a group of