Housing

 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Tina Smith, NY Times - For decades, thanks to restrictive zoning laws and increasing construction costs, we simply haven’t built enough new housing.There is another way: social housing. Instead of treating real estate as a commodity, we can underwrite the construction of millions of homes and apartments that, by law, must remain affordable. Some would be rental units; others would offer Americans the opportunity to build equity. These models of rent caps and homeownership are already working around the world, such as in Vienna, and in some parts of the United States.

In Congress, the two of us represent very different parts of the country, but New Yorkers and Minnesotans have both benefited from social housing. The Electchester complex in Queens and Co-op City in the Bronx today house over 50,000 New Yorkers. Co-op City stands as not only one of the largest housing cooperatives in the world — with its own schools and power plant — but also the largest, naturally occurring retirement community in the country, a testament to its financial and social sustainability.

In Minnesota, trusts, such as Saint Paul’s Rondo Community Land Trust, give people the chance at more affordable homeownership, because the homeowners don’t buy the land; instead, it’s held in trust and leased to homeowners on a long-term, renewable basis. The model has expanded across Minnesota, in rural and suburban communities alike.