In this interview series, we speak with renters and organizers who live in social housing around the world, about their experiences with the social housing programs in their cities and countries. We pay special attention to the impact on immigrants and renters of color. We also speak with renters rising up and organizing against the corporate control of housing across the globe, about their strategies and wins.

Cities with robust social housing programs are eliminating homelessness. Social housing programs have successfully reversed affordable housing shortages, and raised whole populations out of poverty, into prosperity. And cities with some of the strongest social housing programs have been deemed the most livable in the world, because of their quality affordable housing.

Social housing is a public option for housing that is permanently and deeply affordable, forever protected from the private market, and publicly owned by the government or under democratic community control by non-profit entities. By first prioritizing those most in need – low-income households and people of color with the least housing options – social housing can help advance racial, economic, and gender justice. Social housing – through government intervention to produce and guarantee housing for human needs, and not profit – is the lasting solution to our affordable housing crisis.

This interview series was first published online through Renters Rising, and complements our full report on model social housing policy, Social Housing for All: A Vision for Thriving Communities, Renter Power, and Racial Justice. For more information, check out the report!

This series is also available in Spanish • Este informe también se encuentra disponible en español.