Social Housing

Across the U.S., treating housing as a commodity has produced spiraling rents, unsafe conditions, mass displacement, and a political system captured by real estate interests. The Action Lab is advancing social housing as a transformative alternative—one that shifts housing from a profit-driven asset to a people-centered public good. This work builds on our 2022 delegation to Vienna, co-led with Housing Justice for All and covered by The New York Times. In Vienna, more than 60% of residents live in stable, high-quality social housing. In 2025, we expanded our international learning through Social Housing Around the World, a five-part video series based on conversations with housing leaders from Europe and Latin America that culminated in TAL’s co-leadership of the Global Housing Day of Action, mobilizing 77 actions in 57 cities across 20 countries.

We are now helping translate these global lessons into bold policy and organizing strategy in the U.S. This includes working to support policies, such as Rep. Ocasio-Cortez’s proposal for a Social Housing Development Authority (SHDA)—a public entity that would acquire distressed properties and convert them into permanently affordable, community-controlled housing. This proposal represents a paradigm shift: building long-term public ownership, expanding democratic control over housing, and giving tenants real, durable power in a system currently designed to exclude them. By pairing policy development with deep learning and organizing, TAL and our partners are charting a path toward a housing system rooted in abundance, stability, and community care.