Audaciously Hoping: Independent, Grassroots, and Global Perspectives on Social Housing
My name is Steve Peraza, and I live in Buffalo, New York, “the City of Good Neighbors,” where there are many unresolved social issues, chief among them a crisis in housing. According to Partnership for the Public Good, a community think tank in Buffalo, city residents face a complex set of issues, including “a crisis of abandoned housing and a severe homelessness problem.” I would add endemic poverty, vacant land, dilapidated and deteriorating housing stock, and skyrocketing housing prices to that list. Given this crisis, a good, neighborly thing to do is to create a vision of a New Buffalo with high quality housing that all residents can inhabit no matter their socioeconomic status.
Given the crisis of leadership we face in the United States, few people dare to hope right now. I’m one of the few who do. In New York State, there is a bill in the legislature which would create a Social Housing Development Authority to develop quality housing accessible to all New York State residents, no matter their class status. It’s not a new bill, nor is “social housing” a new idea. In fact, our European allies across the pond in Vienna, Spain, and Great Britain have instituted social housing for decades. Our northern neighbors in Vancouver, British Columbia, also have social housing developments. Even Seattle, Washington, on the west coast of the US is exploring this housing strategy. If you dare to look, then the evidence is there.
For 2025, I have decided to report on social housing nationally and internationally for Weave News. I want to provide an evidentiary base to inspire New York State legislators to create the NYS Social Housing Development Authority. These lawmakers will need research to determine how to design this authority and how to apply its powers to the development of high quality housing for all New Yorkers. I hope to be of assistance to them - and to you, if you dare to work on this dream with me.
How do we start? Let’s examine what we know about social housing. Here I have curated a variety of articles by independent news outlets which have reported on social housing developments “glocally” (that is, locally and around the globe). We selected independent news outlets because they dare to examine the issue via ideas that challenge the status quo. Mainstream (or legacy) media have reported on social housing, too, but their bias is toward capitalist market solutions for the housing crisis. In this context, social housing is casually dismissed as a viable housing strategy. If you read independent media, however, social housing receives treatment as one of many viable housing strategies that can help New Yorkers and other Americans.
Remember when former US President Barack Obama challenged us to hope? “Yes, we can” was the national response. I dare you to do the same today. Many housing strategies have been pursued but haven’t worked. Now, it’s time to give social housing a shot. Check out what housing activists are doing around the world, and have the audacity to hope again.
