People’s Action Announces Victorious Homes Guarantee Candidates
Contact: Johanna Kichton, 202.660.0605, [email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C.— People’s Action today announced 32 candidates who won their elections at the federal, state, and local levels after taking the Homes Guarantee Candidate pledge, including commitments to de-commodify housing and reject real estate cash. Winning candidates included Reps. Ilhan Omar, Marie Newman, Cori Bush, and Jamaal Bowman. These candidates are running movement politics, people-powered campaigns, and many were also endorsed by People’s Action.
“When it comes to housing, incrementalism is dead. Our communities and our candidates know that we need systemic change. We need a Homes Guarantee. Candidates are running on this visionary agenda, and they’re winning, because it actually speaks to the needs of the people,” Working Families Party organizing manager and Homes Guarantee electoral team leader Divya Sundaram said.
In the past election cycle, over 135 candidates signed the Homes Guarantee pledge, committing to:
- Advance policies that move housing from a commodity to a human right
- Run a campaign that is accountable to local tenants
- Reject all real estate and developer contributions
Homes Guarantee candidates who won local races include Nithya Raman, an immigrant urban planner elected to the Los Angeles City Council, Marcela Mitaynes, a tenant organizer who has experienced eviction elected to the New York State Assembly, and Marie Pinkney, a social worker elected to the Delaware State Senate. These candidates make it clear that support for public and social housing, renter’s rights, and real estate reparations is a winning message.
The Homes Guarantee campaign has created a program to “co-govern” with winning candidates and hold them accountable to movement demands. The Homes Guarantee team plans to inform and eventually win policies that actualize grassroots demands, such as Ilhan Omar’s Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act,
Tired of politics as usual, tenants, public housing residents, and unhoused leaders created the Homes Guarantee pledge in the fall of 2019. Responding to tenants in Los Angeles, Sen. Bernie Sanders took the Homes Guarantee pledge in December 2019. The Homes Guarantee campaign is now accepting candidate pledges for the 2021 election cycle.
A complete list of winning Homes Guarantee candidates may be found here.
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The Homes Guarantee campaign is a project of People’s Action, a national network of 37 state and local grassroots, power-building organizations united in fighting for justice. We operate the largest progressive rural organizing project in the country. People’s Action and its member organizations coordinated one of the biggest distributed organizing programs in rural areas this election season.