Housing is a human right.

We must protect current occupants, repair public housing, and build new affordable housing. We must also seek justice for small businesses and workers by rebuilding unions, investing in people instead of corporations, and providing a federal jobs guarantee.

In his 1944 State of the Union address to Congress, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke of a second bill of rights. He spoke of the right to adequate food and clothing, the right to a decent home, the right to a good education, the right to adequate medical care, and the right to protection from economic fears of old age, sickness, accidents, and unemployment.

As FDR went on to say, all these rights spell security. I know many Americans are wishing they had some of that economic security right now.

Congress must pass legislation like The Place to Prosper Act to incentivize local governments to promote affordable housing in their communities, streamline permits and timelines to accelerate the building of affordable housing, and prohibiting landlords from rejecting a rental application on the basis of an applicant's income source.

Rent increases have outpaced wage increases in many communities, leaving families struggling to afford groceries, healthcare, clothes and school supplies. We must pass smart legislation to protect both renters and homeowners.

We must also work to rebuild labor unions across America. The labor movement of the turn of the 20th century fought tirelessly for the workplace protections that helped bring power to the working class through greater economic democracy. Wealth and labor protections were directly responsible for the New Deal, which enabled a Golden Age for the U.S. economy. Unfortunately, far-right and reactionary movements, strengthened by Ronald Reagan and neoliberal establishment Democrats, have undone many labor protections.

We must also invest in communities, rather than corporations. This means creating more equitable opportunities for small businesses and workers. This also means investing in community workforce training, apprenticeship programs, and support programs for small businesses.