Housing Justice on the Ballot: Growing the Movement Through Electoral Wins (A Deep Dive) 

March 21, 2023

Last election season, we saw localities play a leading role in changing the housing landscape to create the housing futures we want through ballot initiatives that advanced crucial housing justice wins including rent stabilization, just cause eviction protections, and the tenant right to counsel. This year, we are seeing even more campaigns that will continue to improve the lives of renters across the country. Ballot initiatives continue to be a powerful tool for communities to advance housing solutions that will work for them. 

Building off of PolicyLink’s two fall Housing Justice on the Ballot webinars, this third installation in the series featured our new tool — Housing Justice on the Ballot: A Ballot Initiative Guide. In this webinar, we explored the new Ballot Initiative Guide, which aims to support organizers and housing justice advocates in running their own ballot initiative campaigns from start to finish. We also heard from organizers and advocates about some of the strategies they are using to build power and advance racial equity in local housing justice ballot initiative campaigns.

Presenters: 

  • Tram Hoang, Senior Associate, PolicyLink
  • Amanda Insalaco, Legal Research Specialist, National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel 
  • Jasmine Rangel, Senior Associate, PolicyLink
  • Jack O’Brien, Portland, ME 
  • Anna Laguna, Portland, ME
  • Colleen Carroll, Eviction Representation for All in Multnomah County, Oregon

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