How the 2020 Presidential Election Can Fund A Basic Human Right.
As the 2020 Presidential elections quickly approaches, citizens are starting to scrutinize candidates more on their views and how they plan on improving our country. When evaluating candidates, what’s important to me is how candidates plan to fix the epidemic of unaffordable housing. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio made a statement in 2018 about how the gentrification of low income communities has caused a decline in available public housing resulting in higher rates of displacement and homelessness. In Mayor de Blasio’s statement he admits that the misallocation of resources is a trend that’s been happening for decades that continues to keep low income communities from social mobility.
According to Julia Falcon’s article on housingwire titled, “Here are the 2020 presidential candidates’ plan for affordable housing” the only candidates to make a statement on the affordable housing epidemic are Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Michael Bennet, John Delaney, Andrew Yang, Steve Bullock, Julian Castro, Amy Klobuchar, and Bete O’Rourke. Other candidates have placed issues such as income inequality, climate change, immigration, and international affairs at the forefront of their campaign.
Housing is a basic human right that the United States has put on its back burner for too long. Moving forward we need to look deeper into candidates other than just their plan of action. In order to understand how these communities have been manipulated and trapped for years, it takes a certain level of empathy and understanding. Looking at candidates who are minorities or come from low income communities is a great start. For decades, we’ve seen politicians value large corporations who make money from turning public housing into privately-owned property. Historically, low income communities become low income communities because of how the outside world pushes these people into areas that were deemed worthless. This is also an example of environmental discrimination that I will save as a conversation for another day. However, it’s not until corporations see an opportunity for capitalism that the value of these communities change. If we confined low income people into areas that are affordable to them, but then evict them when windows of capitalism are available, where are they supposed to go? Fixing affordable housing epidemic starts with putting basic human rights in front of financial gain.
I grew up in an urban city called Newark, NJ during the early 2000s. A lot of us are able to recognize our community through distinct landmarks that define our territory. For me it was the Kennedy Fried Chicken Shack, the Pathmark grocery store, and the bodega on the corner that sold my favorite flavor of sunflower seeds. I also recognized my community by a homeless man who always hung out around the Wendy’s playing a saxophone for spare change. However, coming back almost feels unrecognizable. It’s hard to even navigate the area due to the destruction of old landmarks and the construction of new ones. The land plot where the chicken shack was was now covered by a high rise apartment building. And the Pathmark was replaced with a Whole Foods. I am all for creating more job opportunities, better access to quality housing and food, but I don’t think that shouldn’t be at the expense of removing the natives of a community. I’m curious to see how the 2020 presidential candidates plan to mitigate a decades- long issue into a better future.
