Let’s Build a Publicly Owned Alternative: Support I-137
Building publicly owned, democratically controlled high quality and green housing is the way out of the crisis of affordability and homelessness, for all working people.
[You can find this article here as a PDF leaflet]
Seattle Deserves Better Housing
Seattle is facing a huge housing crisis. For too long, the cost of living has been skyrocketing for working people. People feel less free to make the choices that will create a happy life for themselves and everyone in their community. It doesn’t have to be this way. The fight for I-137 is one step toward a better future for all.
Employers who purchase the labor of highly compensated workers above $1 million in total compensation will pay a 5% marginal tax. To find out more about I-137 and how the excess compensation works go to LetsBuildSocialHousing.org (that’s where this graphic is actually from)
From Private Ownership to Democratic Public Ownership
Housing under capitalism is an unstable, racist system of competition. It follows a boom bust cycle that preys upon working and poor people. Neighborhoods are gentrified. We need to build new housing that’s collectively owned by and for working people. I-137 is a step toward that: I-137 is a ballot initiative in Seattle, put forward by the House Our Neighbors coalition of community, gender, racial and economic justice organizations including DSA. It taxes large corporations (an excess tax only on compensation of over $1 million per person) to fund publicly owned social housing (the democratic, public housing developer voters in Seattle approved in 2023).
Tax Big Business
Washington State and the federal government have underfunded our education, our housing, our communities, especially of poorer working class and BIPOC families. It’s time to turn things around and use the wealth that working class people create in favor of the needs of working class people.
Join the Fight
If working people are going to win things like Social Housing, Medicare for All, and stop the Israeli war against Palestinians, we’ll need our own political party. Here in Seattle and Washington State the Democratic Party runs all levels of government in the interests of big business. Join the Democratic Socialist of America today to help build an alternative to the Wall Street Democrats and the even more dangerous far-right Republicans. Imagine if we can vote and organize for a party we actually like that is not just the lesser evil.
Build Millions of Green New Homes Nationwide
Around 11.3 million households in the US pay more than 50 percent of their income on housing. 650,000 people are homeless. DSA is fighting to put people over profits.
- Build millions of units of new publicly owned housing to create social housing under democratic control of tenants and communities
- Rent control and strong enforcement of tenants’ rights
- Transformation of the housing stock in the US to zero-carbon, highly energy-efficient homes; creating high-paying unionized jobs; focus on building communities with new or improved green schools, child care and senior centers, expanding access to clean transportation, creating community gardens and other community investments
- Democratically-controlled models of land ownership like community land trusts
Our efforts to build affordable housing are part of our larger vision: We want to live in a society based on economic, racial and gender justice – a democratic socialist society. Join DSA today: SeattleDSA.org/join
[You can find this article here as a PDF leaflet]