Movement Blog for the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights

The Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights is a national coalition of housing rights organizations and community groups working around the country that is calling on the national government to reclaim its historic commitment to provide decent housing for everyone. We are working at both the national and local level on a variety of programs and initiatives.

One such initiative is conducting national hearings on the crisis in affordable rental housing. The Campaign has been in dialogue with U.S. Representative Maxine Waters’ office (D-California), chair of the House Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity and champion for poor and low income communities across the United States.  We are discussing the possibility of Representative Waters conducting congressional field hearings in select cities to hear directly from residents the impact failed federal housing policies has on their lives and discuss viable solutions to this crisis.

We are hoping to have hearings in some of the following cities: Chicago, Miami, Minneapolis, New Orleans and New York, with a culminating hearing in Washington, D.C., as a demonstration of the breadth and extent of this national crisis. Representative Waters has shown her commitment to these issues and the communities they impact by having hearings in Los Angeles, where community members and advocates were able to bring attention to this crisis: Video of Los Angeles Hearings.

Our aim is for the remaining hearings to likewise include testimony from directly impacted community members and experts on issues ranging from public housing demolitions, the under-funding of Section 8, and rising homelessness.

As poor and low income communities are disproportionately impacted by the national foreclosure and credit crises, we hope the hearings will bring needed attention to the plight facing these communities.  The hearings will be aimed at highlighting the crisis in housing facing poor communities, moving forward progressive legislation in this area, and advancing the notion of a human right to housing within the United States.

This website includes a database of research on the crisis in affordable rental housing, positive alternatives, resources for affected communities, information about the congressional hearings initiative, and ways to get involved. Contact Tiffany M. Gardner at NESRI to join: tiffany@nesri.org.

Human Right to Housing Listserv

The Human Right to Housing listserv provides a national forum for the housing rights community to discuss strategies and tactics and garner national support for local campaigns. We hope the listserv will serve as an avenue for building the human right to housing movement in the United States. To join the listserv, email: Human_right_to_housing@lists.mayfirst.org.