The Real Affordability Agenda
Introduction: Policies to Make Life Easier for Working Families Instead of for Billionaires
Across the country, an affordability crisis is accelerating at kitchen tables and in checkout lines. Families are making daily tradeoffs, skipping care, buying less food, falling behind on bills, just to get through the month. The basics of a good life—an affordable home, quality healthcare, nutritious food, a dignified job, and beyond —are increasingly out of reach for millions of Americans. At the same time, big corporations and the super-rich are posting record profits, protected by rules that work for them while shifting higher costs onto everyone else. What working people pay more for, those at the top profit from. This crisis has hit Black and brown communities and working families most of all. None of this is an accident: it is the result of a system that has prioritized private profit over public well-being.
In response, May Day Strong is proud to announce The Real Affordability Agenda, a comprehensive plan to build a movement for multiracial democracy, change the economic rules of our country, and put the makings of a good life back within everyone's reach. This agenda outlines a clear, achievable vision for a society where our fundamental needs are met, our work is valued, and our communities can thrive.
- Affordable Housing: Corporate rent gouging, real estate wealth concentration, and private equity landlords are the primary drivers of the housing crisis, and we demand targeted regulatory and financing reforms. That means strict limits on rent increases so people can stay in their homes, dedicated taxes on luxury property sales and high-value assets to fund affordable housing production and preservation, and large-scale development of social housing models that ensure permanent affordability and resident governance. We seek to establish housing as a public good secured through democratic control and progressive revenue.
- Good Jobs: Wage stagnation and declining worker power are on the rise despite surging corporate profits; we demand structural reforms to secure dignified employment. We demand mandated living wages aligned with productivity growth and a jobs guarantee program to put displaced and unemployed workers in good jobs. We call for universal paid leave, the repeal of anti-union laws, strong worker organizing protections, curbing employer misclassification tactics, and raising the minimum wage closer to the actual cost of living (at least $25 per hour) and end all subminimum wages - including for tipped workers, workers with disabilities, youth, and incarcerated workers.
- Affordable Universal Needs: We demand universal access to essential services by eliminating cost barriers and corporate profiteering. That means fully funded universal child care with fair provider wages, free school meals and expanded food assistance alongside anti-gouging measures, debt-free public higher education, free comprehensive health care for all, fare-free reliable transit, fully funded equitable public schools, and publicly controlled utilities with progressive pricing and assistance programs.
May Day Strong, unions, and community groups across the country will fight for a people-first agenda and demand the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations to finally contribute their fair share to the society that makes their success possible. We can afford a good life for everyone, of all races, genders and backgrounds. It is simply a matter of making different choices, and together, we will win the future we all deserve.