🏠 The Housing Crisis – Causes, Consequences, and Solutions
Our April public event brought together Miguel Robles-Durán, Rob Robinson, and Gabriella Rendón to unpack the structural roots of the housing crisis and imagine pathways toward collective alternatives.
🔍 The Crisis is by Design
Miguel Robles-Durán revealed the dangerous limits of orthodox economic narratives: the housing crisis cannot be reduced to a simple issue of supply and demand, solvable merely by incentivizing private investment. Rather, it is the “absolute logical outcome of centuries of capitalist development.” Housing has become financialized—it’s now often more profitable to keep a property empty as part of an investment portfolio than to rent it to people. Our homes are caught in a financial game, while workers’ wages fail to keep pace with soaring housing costs.
⚠️ Human Right to Home
Rob Robinson drew on his lived experience of homelessness to highlight the systemic failures at play: New York City operates over 600 shelters with a $3 billion annual budget—money spent on temporary relief rather than addressing the root causes of homelessness. As he put it, “NYC’s ‘Right to Shelter’ guarantees a bed—not a home, nor the dignity of stability.” Meanwhile, the non-profit sector thrives within this status quo. The dominant narrative that blames addiction or mental illness is misleading; the real culprits are the commodification of land and housing, and an economy built on precarious, low-wage work.
🌱 Reclaiming Land, Rebuilding Community
Gabriella Rendón looked at historical examples of alternative ways of conceiving housing. She offered a powerful vision of collective ownership and mutual care: returning to collectivism and reclaiming the land that has been taken from us. Community Land Trust Movement and Housing Cooperatives, for example, provide sustainable, community-led alternatives. These models emphasize shared governance, responsibility, and solidarity over profit.
📣 Next Up at CHE – Friday, May 16th, 6 PM (CST)
📅 Date: May 16th, Friday
⏰Time: 6 PM CST
📍 Location: 101 E Archer St, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
🎥 Go To Live on YouTube: @CHE-tulsa
Register here: https://forms.office.com/r/e26vaJTfT6
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