Recently, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released a report on the role of ballot measure campaigns in securing new resources for affordable homes, strengthening tenant protections, and solving homelessness. The report reviews best practices for launching campaigns, building coalitions, communicating about ballot measures, and elevating the leadership of directly impacted communities.
In addition to summarizing significant ballot measures related to housing and homelessness from the 2020 and 2021 election cycles, the report provides case studies from three cities where housing advocates recently achieved significant victories at the ballot box – Philadelphia, PA; St. Paul, MN; and Denver, CO – to offer insights into strategies for organizing winning campaigns. NLIHC posits that “The strongest campaigns are those that elevate the voices of low-income renters and other people with lived experience. Community members who would directly benefit from the passage of the ballot measure should have a central role in developing and executing every aspect of the campaign’s strategy.”