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Housing

 

Agatha believes in ensuring access to housing as a human right and that no American should be homeless.

In 2018, a total of 552,830 people were experiencing homelessness in the United States.1 However, 11.1 million people are at risk of becoming homeless which are either living with friends and family or paying over 50% of their salaries on housing.2 The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates that there are 40,056 homeless Veterans.3

Lead causes for homelessness include a lack of affordable housing, insufficient incomes, lack of physical and mental health services.4 Domestic violence is a leading cause of homelessness for women. Minorities, especially Black/African Americans, face homelessness at a rate of 40% while only composing of 13% of the U.S. population partially due to rental housing discrimination and mass incarceration.5

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How does this impact CA-12?

California has the most homeless people in the United States.6 In San Francisco alone, low estimates show there are 8,011 people facing homelessness.7

If this was not bad enough, many cities including San Francisco criminalize homelessness through quality of life laws, banning homeless people of basic needs like toilet facilities and sleeping in public places, and fining them over $76 per citation, further exacerbating poverty.8 San Francisco spends $20.5 million a year to enforce this.9

Pelosi’s Status Quo

While Nancy Pelosi, my incumbent competitor, owns between $24.1M and $117.4M in real estate, San Franciscans struggle to get access to affordable housing.10 Her 2018 Financial Disclosure Forms show she owns part of her husband’s real estate and venture capital investment firm called Financial Leasing Services.11

Agatha’s Agenda

 

Agatha believes it is necessary to build enough new publicly owned and affordable homes to ensure every American has a place to live.

Put an end to exclusionary zoning that bans economical housing and was designed to segregate communities.

Support land reform legalizing inexpensive homes through equitable zoning.

Expand the Low Income Housing Tax Credit and increase funding to the National Housing Trust Fund.

Agatha believes that homelessness in the United States is a crisis, and every homeless American must be housed as fast as possible through rapid rehousing.

To improve other root causes leading to homelessness, Agatha supports raising the minimum wage to a living wage, Medicare-for-all to include mental health care, fighting against domestic violence and decriminalizing homelessness.

In support of Agatha’s plan (temp, optional)

 

Milton Friedman (Nobel-winning economist), 1980: “We should replace the ragbag of specific welfare programs with a single comprehensive program of income supplements in cash — a negative income tax . . . which would do more efficiently and humanely what our present welfare system does so inefficiently and inhumanely.”

Bernie Sanders, May 2014: “In my view, every American is entitled to at least a minimum standard of living . . .There are different ways to get to that goal, but that’s the goal that we should strive to reach.”

Stephen Hawking, July 2015: “Everyone can enjoy a life of luxurious leisure if the machine-produced wealth is shared, or most people can end up miserably poor if the machine-owners successfully lobby against wealth redistribution. So far, the trend seems to be toward the second option, with technology driving ever-increasing inequality.”

References

  1. ”State of Homelessness”, National Alliance to End Homelessness

  2. ”Background & Statistics”, National Coalition for Homeless Veterans

  3. ”San Francisco Community Health Needs Assessment 2016”, San Francisco Department of Public Health

  4. ”San Francisco Community Health Needs Assessment 2016”, San Francisco Department of Public Health

  5. ”Racial Inequality”, National Alliance to End Homelessness

  6. ”State of Homelessness”, National Alliance to End Homelessness

  7. Kevin Fagan, “The numbers are in: SF homeless population rose 30% since 2017”, San Francisco Chronicle, July 8, 2019

  8. Chris Herring, “The San Francisco Study of the Criminalization of Homelessness”

  9. Chris Herring, “The San Francisco Study of the Criminalization of Homelessness”

  10. ”Nancy Pelosi”, OpenSecrets.org

  11. 2017 Financial Disclosure Report, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives