Did you know that your landlord could be a state legislator?
What if the person who keeps raising your rent and ignoring your maintenance requests was also the person representing you in the State Legislature? For many Pennsylvanians, this isn’t just a hypothetical.
In 2024, 40+ PA legislators received income from properties they own or manage; this is LEGAL in PA. Of those lawmakers receiving income from other properties, there are 11 who are sitting directly on housing committees and writing the rules that govern housing and renter laws– talk about a conflict of interest!
Why would they fight to put more cash in your pockets when they could stuff theirs instead?
While we are forced to choose between paying rent or our mortgage, and groceries or putting a little money in savings, establishment politicians are getting richer off our suffering.
We cannot afford politicians who give us half measures:
Almost half of Pennsylvanians are spending over a third of their income on housing.
Rent is climbing while wages stagnate.
Roughly 15,000 Pennsylvanians are unhoused, living in both shelters and on the streets. At the same time, there are over 500,000 vacant housing units in Pennsylvania today – we could house every person today (33 times over).
What are politicians offering us?
Well, Governor Shapiro presented a pro-developer housing plan that funnels millions of taxpayer dollars into more luxury housing that none of us can afford. Nowhere in this plan is Shapiro addressing any of the things Pennsylvanians have been demanding: sweeping tenant protections, strict statewide caps on rent, mass investing in public housing, banning corporate equity from mass-buying homes, and other measures to make living more affordable for both homeowners and renters.
Housing is a Human Right! Not a Commodity
Corporate politicians campaign on the slogan that housing is a human right, while—hypocritically—earning income as landlords, while fundraising millions from private developers, and while passing laws that benefit real estate companies, and not fighting for the hardworking renters and homeowners they’re supposed to represent.
We are all getting screwed, and the best way for us to fight back is to do it together!
We can usher in a new era of housing policies that favor working Pennsylvanians by fighting for a government where your lawmaker can no longer be your landlord. Imagine a world where we all have a stable, affordable place to call home.
It’s time to hold corporate politicians, bad landlords, and greedy developers accountable. Things do not have to be this way!
What you can do right now!
📲Call/email your legislator, demand they support getting money out of politics bills, demand they fight for renters and homeowners – not developers! Click here to find your representative and senator, and how to contact them.
🏠Click here to get involved with MoH! We are organizing our workplaces, neighborhoods, and communities, and you can too!
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