Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, the resident Democratic Socialist among the 2020 primary field, intent to just give everything away, has now shifted from Medicare for All to another costly plan: a $2.5 trillion Housing for All plan funded by … you guessed it, a wealth tax.
Sanders’ plan, released Wednesday, would “guarantee every American — regardless of income — a fundamental right to a safe, decent, accessible, and affordable home” paid for by a wealth tax on the top 1% of earners in the U.S.
We have an affordable housing crisis and Trump is making it much worse.
That is why today we are proposing the most progressive housing plan in history.
Safe, decent, affordable housing should not be a privilege. It should be a right. #HousingForAllhttps://t.co/I0m1NTRjJ7
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 18, 2019
“There is virtually no place in America where a full-time minimum wage worker can afford a decent two bedroom apartment,” Sanders said. “At a time when half of our people are living paycheck to paycheck, this is unacceptable. For too long the federal government has ignored the extraordinary housing crisis in our country. That will end when I am president.”
The plan would invest $1.48 trillion over a decade into a National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to build 7.4 million “quality, affordable and accessible housing units” that Sanders says will help eliminate the gap in affordable housing for low-income Americans. Another $400 billion would be used to build two million mixed-income social housing units.
Sanders says his plan will help put an end to homelessness by prioritizing 25,000 National Affordable Housing Trust Fund units for the homeless during his first year in office, and provide $500 million to state governments for case management and social services to get homeless people into their new government-funded (taxpayer-funded, in other words) dream homes.
Sanders also blasted incumbent President Donald Trump for slashing federal housing programs. Sanders would create a new office within the Department of Housing and Urban Development to strengthen rent control and tenant protections, making information about evictions and rent increases available to the public.
Sanders has long campaigned on being a champion for the little guy and working to end wealth inequality between the top 1% and the rest of America. Sanders also is the champion of Medicare for All, or taxpayer-funded universal health care. Sanders claims the U.S. would spend less money on health care with Medicare for All, but expert studies don’t back those claims.
Sanders is one of the front runners in the Democratic field, trailing only former Vice President Joe Biden in the latest polling, along with the hard-charging Elizabeth Warren, who also wants to institute Medicare for All among a bevy of proposals and giveaways paid for with wealth taxes on the richest Americans.