Will you start a petition to turn vacant office buildings into affordable housing?

Advocate for change! Shape a better tomorrow in your community by starting a petition today. Advocate for change! Shape a better tomorrow in your community by starting a petition today.

Start a petition to urge your local elected officials to pass legislation to help transform empty offices spaces into affordable housing!

Dear MoveOn member,

 Addressing the housing crisis in the United States demands urgent and innovative solutions. One obvious solution is all around us: the countless empty office buildings that stand unused across hundreds of cities. This solution starts with you, right in your own community, and you can get started with MoveOn's free petition platform.

Every day, millions of individuals and families in our country struggle to secure affordable, quality housing, often sacrificing over half of their wages to keep a roof over their heads, while others experience housing instability and houselessness. Meanwhile, a staggering disparity persists, as the ultra-rich in America own, on average, nine homes.¹

That's why we're inviting you to utilize MoveOn's free petition platform to kick-start a petition urging your local and state elected officials to take bold steps to address this crisis of inequity. And it's already happening. In New York, nearly 80 office buildings have been repurposed into housing—and 200 more could be repurposed over the next decade, paving the way for 20,000 units of new housing!² We must work together to make this a reality in every community across the country and we need your help!

The numbers speak for themselves. Right now, nearly 1 billion square feet of office space is sitting vacant in the United States.³ Start a petition and help repurpose these empty office buildings in your city into affordable housing for all!

Instead of trying to turn back the clock and insist that employees who went remote at the beginning of COVID-19 return to the office—forcing people to make impossible choices between their families, health, and work—we can use this moment to reimagine what's possible and innovate to meet our country's most urgent and pressing needs. 

Change is possible. Legislation in California has already been introduced to make it easier to turn office buildings into affordable housing, and local elected officials in cities like Pittsburgh and New York City have also eased restrictions to incentivize reimagining vacant buildings into housing.^4,5 Get started by starting a local petition in your city or state and inspiring this movement to spread across the country.

This solution is not only good for people, it's good for the environment. New construction accounts for 11% of global carbon emissions.⁶ Repurposing existing buildings rather than starting construction from scratch offers a more sustainable pathway to addressing our housing crisis and urgent environmental priorities at the scale we desperately need. 

We understand that petition writing might be new to some, and that's perfectly OK! If you're unsure about how to get started, need help framing your message, or want guidance on how to reach your community effectively, we've got your back. From crafting your message to promoting your cause, we're with you every step of the way. So what are you waiting for? Use MoveOn's free petition platform to fight for affordable housing for all. 

Join us in telling elected officials to make this a reality in neighborhoods, cities, and states across the country. Start a petition to make it easier to turn office buildings into affordable housing!

Thanks for all you do.

–Aliya, Valeria, Jensine, Isbah, and the rest of the team

Sources: 

1. "Here's How Many Homes the Average Billionaire Now Owns," Fortune, December 2, 2016
https://act.moveon.org/go/179863?t=22&akid=378784%2E53570607%2EKVVnnX

2. "Cities look to revive downtowns by converting offices to housing," PBS, April 24, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179864?t=24&akid=378784%2E53570607%2EKVVnnX

3. "Visualizing 1 Billion Square Feet of Empty Office Space," Visual Capitalist, July 7, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179865?t=26&akid=378784%2E53570607%2EKVVnnX

4. "New York Plans to Open Parts of Midtown Manhattan to Housing," The New York Times, August 17, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179866?t=28&akid=378784%2E53570607%2EKVVnnX

5. "Pittsburgh City Council looking to repurpose old office building for affordable housing," CBS News Pittsburgh, July 27, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179867?t=30&akid=378784%2E53570607%2EKVVnnX

6. "Turning unused office space into housing could solve 2 problems, but it's tricky," NPR, July 24, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/179868?t=32&akid=378784%2E53570607%2EKVVnnX

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