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II. SOCIAL JUSTICE
L. Housing and Homelessness

1. Shelter, like food, health care and education, is a social necessity that a democratic society is obliged to secure for all its citizens.

2. In recent years, the cost of housing, to rent or purchase, has outdistanced the income of a large percentage of the population. While the real estate business, building owners and developers have thrived on rising prices, many workers and fixed-income people, whose income has been diminished or static, have lost their homes and their place in the economy.

3. We support government policies that redress years of special benefits to developers and property owners and no benefits to citizens and small business. A level playing field is necessary for all to share in the society, the economy and to have equal access to their government. A lack of legal protection has allowed the eviction of 1,000s of tenants while the gap between the rich and the rest of society goes wider and wider..

4. Greens advocate:
   1. Rent control over rise in rents including vacancy control..
   2. Subsidize co-operative ownership of apartment buildings.
   3. Re-write building codes to increase obligation that developers include affordable units for low-income tenants in their rehabilitated apartment buildings.
   4. States write laws that require creation of Tenants Advocacy Office that protects tenants from eviction when landlord wants to upgrade and raise price of their holdings. Especially protection for the elderly and disabled persons.
   5. Strict inspection schedule by inspectors and heavy fines of owners who fail to maintain their buildings.
   6. Revise zoning laws to expand area that allows group housing.
   7. Build public housing on low and small human scale and allow a tenant to buy his unit.
   8. Enact State laws on inclusionary zoning that requires developers to include units for low income tenants.

5. Measures to Help Homeless Persons

   At the bottom of the pile are the homeless - around one million. Many homeless people have low-wage jobs but can’t afford to pay rent and are forced to live in shelters or on the street.

   1. Open homeless shelters in areas near public transportation and close enough to work places for homeless people to get to work.
   2. Repeal laws that criminalize any facet of homelessness including where they sleep, or that deny citizens the right to help homeless persons.
   3. Re-affirm and enforce laws that open public buildings for the homeless in freezing weather.
   4. Open feeding stations that guarantee two meals/day to homeless people.

6. Enforce fair_housing laws against discrimination based on race, sex, familial status (children), marital status, disability, or sexual orientation.

7. Fully fund the Fair Employment and Housing Commission that funds non_profit organizations engaged in fair housing monitoring and enforcement.

8. All commercial, industrial, and residential buildings must be designed and built according to a green code, both in design and in materials used.

9. Implement low-impact, site-specific designs that encourage human-scale development and promote development that encourages urban density, with green spaces, and that discourages urban sprawl.