Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) announced a new effort for public housing under the “Green New Deal” banner, claiming the effort is necessary because of various “crises facing us today.”
The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act was reintroduced on Thursday after being previously proposed in April 2021 during the previous Congress. The bill would authorize $162 billion to $234 billion over the next 10 years to enhance and expand public housing with climate change-centric policies. The bill is part of Ocasio-Cortez’s and other progressive Democrats’ push for climate initiatives under the Green New Deal proposal.
While speaking about the legislation during a press conference outside of the Capitol on Thursday, Ocasio-Cortez stressed her belief in the need for public housing and railed against “broken policy” with housing.
“What’s broken policy is relying solely on the market and solely on billionaires in order to produce and extort everyday people of every dime that we have, in charging the highest rent possible,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “A different world is not only possible; a different world is arriving today.”
Sanders, who joined Ocasio-Cortez and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) in reintroducing the legislation, said in a statement that the bill is a “major step in the right direction.”
“In these difficult times, we must move forward boldly to address the systemic and existential crises facing us today, and that includes urgently combating climate change and making sure every American has a safe and decent place to call home,” Sanders said.
“It is unacceptable that, on a single given night in America, over 650,000 people are homeless. It is unacceptable that, in the richest country in the history of the world, people are choosing between paying rent and putting food on the table,” he added. “It is unacceptable that our nation’s public housing is in a state of chronic disrepair and energy inefficiency after generations of government neglect. It is unacceptable that we have not done more to transform our energy systems, our communities, and our infrastructure away from fossils and toward renewable energy.”
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The effort by Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders is unlikely to go anywhere in Congress, especially in the House of Representatives, where Republicans hold a majority. Republicans have regularly dismissed the Green New Deal and its subsequent offshoots proposed by hard-left members of Congress.
When it was introduced in the previous Congress, neither the House nor the Senate voted on the measure despite both chambers being under Democratic control at the time.