Scale up our affordable housing efforts and protect already existing affordable housing. Housing security is vital if we are to address racial disparities in health, education, and generational wealth. Given the housing crisis and lack of affordability, many residents are housing burdened, paying over 50% of their income on shelter. We need to promote strategies to increase wealth, especially intergenerational wealth for communities of color, so everyone has affordable housing (paying about 30% of income on housing). Stable and affordable housing is a basic building block for stable households and safe neighborhoods. 

Fight the displacement of low-income residents. Stable and affordable housing for those on fixed and low incomes is critical for individual, family, and community health and ensures everyone has a right to live in the city. To the extent possible under state law, protect tenants from evictions and fund programs for free legal advice.  The upcoming loss of federal funding for rent assistance and other pandemic initiatives will exacerbate the crisis for thousands of tenants.

Expand opportunities for land banking, community land trusts, and cooperative ownership. We need to find more non-market based housing solutions. I support partnerships with nonprofits, downpayment and home repair assistance, and lease to own programs. Social housing offers alternatives to the speculative private housing market, is democratically run by residents, and is publicly backed to assure long term affordability.  

Study the creation of a municipal bank. We need to recapture revenues currently devoted to paying interest and principal and redirect them into funding affordable housing, climate resilience,  free/low cost public transit, and community and economic development.  

Link public transportation with land use. We need to reduce the need for car use through implementation of a high frequency transit corridor with infrastructure for bicycle pathways. The redesign of Metro bus routes will need to be tweaked to ensure broad accessibility.

Make stronger use of Tax Incremental Finance and the Community Development Authority. We need to build more housing for households with incomes under 50% of area median income. Use the city’s Affordable Housing Fund, TIF, HOME and CDBG funds to promote affordable home ownership (as opposed to underwriting market rate rental housing).

MY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

I spearheaded the economic development and environmental revitalization of the East Washington corridor from Blair St to Union Corners, which includes new and affordable housing, office and retail jobs, tech and arts incubator spaces, a new parking structure, a grocery store, and a new park.

I also advocated for innovative strategies like landbanking -- the use of city funds to purchase key parcels like the Don Miller properties and Union Corners—  then leveraged financial resources including tax incremental financing, new markets tax credits, historic preservation credits, Section 42 WHEDA tax credits and DNR/US EPA brownfields grants to support the revitalization of this important gateway