Decent affordable housing in healthy communities for all Americans is just as essential for our nation’s social and economic well-being as are affordable health care and high-quality education. Yet none of our current presidential candidates are addressing the severe and ever-growing shortage of affordable housing.
To ensure that housing and community economic development for low-income people is a primary focus of this year’s presidential and other electoral campaigns, 24 national organizations concerned with housing and community development are participating in Campaign 2000. These groups have launched their efforts during primary season with a national postcard campaign. The postcard campaign seeks to alert the presidential candidates that voters care about the affordable housing crisis and living wage jobs. Participating groups hope to send enough postcards to each presidential candidate for him to take “our” issues seriously.
Anyone interested in participating in this effort is encouraged to take the following steps right now:
- Produce a set of cards (available in an MS-Word template at the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s website), fill out the cards and address them to any and all campaigns you wish, and mail them TODAY.
- Give cards to your co-worker or neighbor.
- Make more copies of the cards and the candidates’ list (also available at www.nlihc.org). Distribute them to anyone you can count on to sign the cards and mail them off.
- Organize your members, residents, or constituents to send cards.
- Consider sending cards to candidates for Congress and state and local offices.
- When you have sent your cards, please FAX the response form to Campaign 2000 at 202-393-1973, or email your results to [email protected].
The candidates will only address housing and community economic development goals if they believe voters care about these issues. It is UP TO YOU to join other advocates in insisting our concerns become part of the national debate.
In the coming months, Housing and Community Development Campaign 2000 will be working to further stimulate national discussion about these issues. There will be more opportunities for you to take part as the election year unfolds. For more information, contact the National Low Income Housing Coalition, 202-662-1530; www.nlihc.org.
Campaign 2000 Partners
- Association for Enterprise Opportunity
- Building Better Communities Network
- Center for Community Change
- Corporation for Enterprise Development
- Council of Large Public Housing Agencies
- Enterprise Foundation
- Housing Assistance Council
- Local Initiative Support Corporation
- McAuley Institute
- National Alliance to End Homelessness
- National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials
- National Coalition for the Homeless
- National Community Reinvestment Coalition
- National Congress for Community Economic Development
- National Fair Housing Alliance
- National Housing Conference
- National Housing Law Project
- National Housing Research Institute
- National Low Income Housing Coalition
- National Rural Housing Coalition
- Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation
- PolicyLink
- Public Housing Residents National Organizing Campaign
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