Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is reportedly planning to propose a new version of the Green New Deal, and it is loaded with provisions designed to make America’s public housing stock go green.
Ocasio-Cortez, independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, and other left-wing legislators are poised to launch the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act on Thursday in Washington, D.C., according to Politico.
The bill—which aims to “provide economic empowerment opportunities in the United States” by making public housing climate-friendly—would effectively mandate the electrification of almost every aspect of public housing, including the deployment of electric vehicle chargers and the replacement of gas stoves, according to its text.
The bill is designed to “reimagine and reinvigorate public housing in the United States” and reverse “many of the environmental injustices that public housing residents have faced,” Ocasio-Cortez told Politico. Approximately 1.2 million American households are living in public housing, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The bill would require “electric appliances to replace appliances reliant on fossil fuels, such as gas stoves and hot water heaters” in America’s public housing and the buildout of “electric vehicle charging infrastructure for public housing residents and visitors,” according to its text.
EVs tend to cost significantly more than gas-powered models, with the average EV costing consumers about 25% more than the average automobile, according to Green Cars.
Ocasio-Cortez and other left-wing lawmakers have previously attempted to pass Green New Deal legislation in 2019 and 2021, but those efforts did not gain much traction due to the sweeping and expensive nature of the legislation.
The initial version of the Green New Deal called for numerous left-wing proposals, including forcing the American economy to move away from fossil fuels within 10 years, the creation of universal health care, guaranteed income programs, and job programs. It also called for “social, economic, racial, regional and gender-based justice and equality and cooperative and public ownership.”
The Green New Deal for Public Housing would require taxpayers to fund the implementation of “photovoltaic glass windows” in public housing, as well as “all-electric state-of-the-art efficient appliances,” according to its text.
Additionally, the bill would require applicants looking for government grants to carry out these changes to submit “a signed acknowledgment indicating a commitment to transition all public housing owned or managed by the eligible entity into zero-carbon homes not later than 10 years after the date on which the eligible entity receives the grant,” according to its text.
The bill would also require the government to “give preference” to grant applicants that have formed partnerships with organized labor, according to its text. Preferred applicants would also include those that provide “training and employment opportunities reserved specifically for local low- and very low-income people that were formerly incarcerated” and “stipends valued at not less than $250 per week” for people participating in relevant workforce development programs.
The bill also has provisions that have little to do with climate change at face value. It would require “the establishment and leasing of commercial activity that offers public housing residents on-site access to goods and services” such as high-quality health care, dental clinics, book shops, cheap organic groceries, and tutoring centers, according to its text.
The legislation would also require the government to subsidize centers for seniors and children at or around public housing developments, as well as community gardens and high-speed internet, according to its text.
The bill also would mandate the government to facilitate “the establishment or improvement of dedicated infrastructure for transportation by bicycle, including lanes, parking spots, and the bulk purchase of enough bicycles to offer 1 bicycle to every low- and very low-income public housing resident.”
The offices of Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders did not respond immediately to requests for comment.
Originally published by the Daily Caller News Foundation
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