Commodity or Human Right? How Community Wealth Building Can Address the Housing Crisis

Housing is a human right, or so says the International Declaration of Human Rights. But could we organize our economies with that in mind? Across the country, communities have land and properties and people who need homes. What’s stopping us bringing them together in a way that increases community wealth and wellbeing for everyone? That’s the question we explore in this episode of our special series on community wealth building, produced in collaboration with the radio and tv show, Laura Flanders & Friends. Featuring Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Writer; Saoirse Gowan, Policy Associate with the Democracy Collaborative; Noni D. Session, Co-Founder and Executive Director of the East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative. This episode is part 1 of a 4-part series exploring how communities are working to transform their local economies by harnessing their assets, anchoring capital and resources locally to directly invest in that place and its people – from land to money and finance. Explore the full series here. Resources Democracy Collaborative East Bay Permanent Real Estate Cooperative Race for Profit: How Banks and the Real Estate Industry Undermined Black Homeownership Our Economic Future: Achieving a More Equitable Society by Radically Rethinking Our Guiding Economic Ideas | Bioneers Reader Guest Host Laura Flanders is the host and executive producer of Laura Flanders & Friends, which airs on PBS stations nationwide. She is an Izzy-Award winning independent journalist, a New York Times bestselling author and the recipient of the Pat Mitchell Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Media Center. Credits This series is co-produced by Bioneers and Laura Flanders & Friends Laura Flanders & Friends Producers: Laura Flanders and Abigail Handel Production Assistance: Jeannie Hopper and David Neumann Bioneers Executive Producer: Kenny Ausubel Senior Producer: Stephanie Welch Producer: Teo Grossman Host and Consulting Producer: Neil Harvey Program Engineer and Music Supervisor: Emily Harris