Projects

Anti-Austerity Working Group

Montgomery County DSA fights against the manufactured austerity that is so common under capitalism and is bound to get worse as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Maryland, regressive tax codes force the working class to pay substantially more for needed services than the ruling class. It is unconscionable that people can’t afford housing and healthcare, but elected officials see to it that the wealthiest get tax breaks. Contact us to learn more about this campaign!

Most recently, MoCo DSA worked to defeat ballot question B, which would have forced austerity while giving tax cuts to the county’s wealthiest.

Housing Working Group

Housing is a human right. Everyone has the right to safe, clean and stable housing. Leaving the rental housing supply and pricing in the hands of the private market has been a failure for everyone except developers and landlords.

Residents and families should be able to settle into their homes and not be forced to move due to rising rents or landlords selling their properties. Housing instability is bad for children, families, schools and communities.

MoCo must reverse the trend that has led to the loss of 25,000 affordable rental units over the past 10 years.  Rising rents are driving thousands of residents out of the county while real incomes of working people have been declining since 2008.

Close to 40 percent of Montgomery County residents are renters, and most spend more than a third of their income on rent. Legal protections for renters are weak – laws provide NO controls over how much landlords and developers can increase rents in MoCo.  

The 16-mile Purple Line will make the rental market even more expensive.  The county predicts that tens of thousands of low-income, immigrant and non-white residents will be forced to move.

Our platform is 3-fold:

-Pass strong rent control protections in Montgomery County.

– Pass a law creating a public bank for Montgomery County that will fund and build thousands of public, affordable housing units for families of all sizes.

-Demand that the state revise tax policy so that corporations and the rich pay a fair share of public revenues.

Want to get involved? Contact us!