Platform Committee 2026-10-20

Attending

• Name

Agenda

• Finalize Housing and Transit Draft & send to PNC
• Figure out what topics should be looked at for incorporation into the platform and what order they should be looked at in.

Some topics that have been raised in the past (non-exhaustive): copyright/patent policy, incorporating cash/monetary privacy into privacy plank, incorporating Stop Killing the Internet's aims explicitly in the platform, education, healthcare, markets & economy, clean air, expanding bigotry plank.

• Open Floor

Discussion

Previous Draft

Housing and Transit

Housing is a human right. This means that housing should be affordable, accessible, habitable, and secure. Affordability means housing should be economical enough not to conflict with obtaining other basic needs. Housing must be accessible; located close to work, health-care facilities, schools, community centers, and other facilities without excessive commute times. Housing should be habitable. A house full of mold or lacking access to basic utilities is a disgrace. Housing should be secure. People should not face a strong threat of unwarranted eviction or otherwise being thrown out of their home. You can’t live your life with the constant threat of eviction hanging over you. As a start for recognizing this right, we propose the following:

• Establishing a right to decent housing with federal legislation.
• Ending no-cause evictions and holdover evictions.
• Establishing a federal right to counsel for tenants.
• Giving tenants, housing co-ops, and other qualified housing nonprofits the right of first refusal when their unit is sold—including mobile home parks.
• Prohibiting the algorithmic price fixing of rents.
• Disallowing credit checks in renting.
• Fully funding the housing choice voucher program.
• Providing funding for a housing-first model for homelessness at a federal level.
• Further prohibiting the ability of landlords to illegally discriminate by requiring a detailed report to an applicant denied for a rental, mortgage, home loan application, or similar.

Zoning is meant to be a limited extension of the policing power. Shamefully, it has been used as a discriminatory tool from its onset. We propose reducing non-industrial zoning powers to the most permissive possible while preserving health and safety. We must reconsider our 20th-century experiment in low-density land use and return to human-centered, livable cities. We have practically mandated car use in most cities. This forces everyone to drive, leaving those unable to or unwilling to behind. Cars are the leading source of microplastic pollution and the leading cause of air pollution in cities. While our publicly owned system of highways is among the best in the world, our railway system has languished under regional monopolies. We will:

• Restructure residential zoning categories to allow all types of housing, including ADUs, in residential zones.
• Replace property taxes at all levels with revenue-neutral land value taxes to promote productive development with substantially lowered rates for undeveloped land.
• Provide federal funding to support capital projects & operating expenses for new and existing bus, metro, light rail, and streetcar systems.
• Nationalize, electrify, and modernize railroad infrastructure while allowing existing rail companies to remain private operators.
• Construct a nationwide high-speed passenger rail system with expedited environmental review and minimal external contractors.