50 signatures reached
To: Ferndale City Council
Save Ferndale’s Public Housing
We ask City Council to prioritize the preservation of our public housing as a public good, and stop all plans to sell and privatize our public housing properties, by creating public policy that:
1) Stops the Ferndale Housing Commission from participating in the Section 18 Demolition and Disposition program, RAD (i.e., Rental Assistance Demonstration), or any other federal program that involves the sale or privatization of any of our public housing;
2) Ensures our public housing continues to be affordable to the lowest earning 30% of households in our community, especially seniors, people with disabilities, and people of color who have been redlined and historically disinvested by: ensuring sufficient public funds are available to meet the needs of our public housing at this level of affordability, and preventing leveraging the properties as collateral for private debt;
3) Ensures ownership and control of our public housing remains with a public entity that is subject to public accountability laws, like open meetings and FOIAs; and
4) Explicitly supports the organization of tenants of our public housing into a tenants’ union.
1) Stops the Ferndale Housing Commission from participating in the Section 18 Demolition and Disposition program, RAD (i.e., Rental Assistance Demonstration), or any other federal program that involves the sale or privatization of any of our public housing;
2) Ensures our public housing continues to be affordable to the lowest earning 30% of households in our community, especially seniors, people with disabilities, and people of color who have been redlined and historically disinvested by: ensuring sufficient public funds are available to meet the needs of our public housing at this level of affordability, and preventing leveraging the properties as collateral for private debt;
3) Ensures ownership and control of our public housing remains with a public entity that is subject to public accountability laws, like open meetings and FOIAs; and
4) Explicitly supports the organization of tenants of our public housing into a tenants’ union.
Why is this important?
There is tremendous need for affordable housing in our city. Public housing is the only housing permanently affordable to the lowest earning 30% of households in our community. Keeping public housing public is the most cost-effective way for our city to ensure our community has a supply of housing affordable to our lowest-earning neighbors for generations, and it’s the only way that promises long-term stability for these neighbors.