Photo: University of Pennsylvania Climate+Community Project
During the Covid-19 pandemic, we have all been forced to spend a lot more time at home. But what if the only housing available to you actively put your health at risk? That is the reality for some of the nearly two million people that rely on the U.S.’s public housing system.
Climate activists believe they have found a win-win strategy that reimagines public housing while also addressing the climate crisis.
On April 21st, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act to Congress. It’s just one component of the recently reintroduced Green New Deal framework.
This announcement came on the eve of the 51st Earth Day when President Biden publicized aggressive new climate commitments to reduce carbon emissions. Biden’s commitment to reduce emissions 50% below 2005 levels by 2030 is unprecedented in the United States.
Passing the Public Housing Act would help meet those goals. The Act links revitalizing critical public services with solving climate change—a key plank of the Green New Deal. Housing infrastructure, under this framing, is a climate solution.
The Public Housing Act focuses on vastly improving social and environmental conditions for the nearly two million Americans that live in public housing.
“[The Act] is a tremendous opportunity to ensure everyone has a safe, affordable place to call home,” said climate activist Varshini Prakash. Prakash is Executive Director of the youth-led Sunrise Movement, one of the many organizations supporting the Public Housing Act. “[It] advances us towards a new era, where the government invests in good, union jobs empowering people to revitalize their own communities – all while combating the climate crisis.”
A new study out of the University of Pennsylvania’s Climate+Community Project makes clear just how consequential this bill could be for materially improving people’s lives while also addressing climate change. All public housing would use 100% renewable electricity sources, which would cut U.S. emissions by 5.6 million metric tons—the equivalent of nearly 1.2 million cars.
Marginalized communities, including tribal areas, would be prioritized for deep retrofits and new construction. And, according to researchers, retrofits would vastly improve indoor environmental quality, translating to better health outcomes for public housing residents. For instance, the plan could reduce asthma rates by an estimated 30% in New York.
Working towards environmental justice is a priority of the proposal but other elements of the plan are even more visionary. It would create community resiliency centers to support public housing recipients in the case of climate-related disasters like flooding, extreme heat, and wildfires. Centers would include gardens, daycares, bookstores, and grocery stores, all of which contribute to healthier social and environmental conditions.
Not only does the bill seek to achieve fairness in environmental outcomes, but also in the decision-making process. The Act ensures that public housing residents will have a say in how to spend profits from renewable energy generated by on-site infrastructure like solar panels.
But the report also emphasizes the need for greater funding than expected. The estimated cost of retrofitting and building new public housing to meet the plan’s twin social and climate goals is $119 to $172 billion over ten years, nearly triple Biden’s original proposal of $40 billion.
Though the plan is expensive, the proposal would have significant economic benefits. Retrofits would save up to $613 million annually in energy costs, and $97 million annually in water bills. Over the course of implementation, the bill would also create nearly 95,000 high-skilled maintenance and construction jobs, with prioritization of union positions and long-term job creation.
So, now that the Public Housing Act has been introduced, does it have any chance of passing?
It is unclear. What is certain is that the reintroduction of legislation under the banner of the Green New Deal signals the lasting power of that platform, and sets up a huge political battle to come. The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act may prove to be a pivotal moment for Democrats, who are, for the first time in a decade, in control of the Congressional agenda.
The Act is about putting climate at the center of policy-making, and will test whether or not that can succeed in the U.S.
“This is our opportunity to meaningfully address the housing and climate crises, create nearly a quarter of a million good-paying new jobs, and improve the lives of nearly 2 million individuals,” said Rep. Ocasio-Cortez in a recent Instagram post.
What the research makes clear is that legislation like the Public Housing Act that rewrites housing policy as climate policy will be essential to meeting the U.S.’s climate goals. More importantly, it supports the significant benefits that come with rethinking housing policy with social and climate justice at its core.