Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Bernie Sanders, and Delia Ramirez reintroduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act on August 6, 2026, landmark legislation that would invest up to $172 billion over ten years to rebuild the nation’s public housing stock through weatherization, electrification, and modernization.
The bill aims to address the longstanding capital backlog affecting public housing nationwide while creating an estimated 280,000 union jobs, according to the press release from Ocasio-Cortez’s office. It represents a renewed push by progressive lawmakers to tackle both the housing crisis and climate change through a single federal investment.
The legislation would establish seven grant programs to modernize public housing units, including deep energy retrofits to increase efficiency in nearly a million units, workforce development programs prioritizing good-paying jobs for residents, building electrification and water quality upgrades, and community renewable energy generation. Fair wages, benefits, and labor standards would be required for all funding recipients.
The reintroduction comes with significant new labor support. Three building trades unions endorsed the bill this Congress: the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers, and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. Tim Driscoll, President of the Bricklayers union, stated that the bill “mandates fair wages, benefits, and labor standards as a requirement for funding public housing upgrades.”
The bill has broad congressional backing, with 40 House cosponsors and 6 Senate cosponsors. It is also endorsed by numerous housing advocacy organizations, labor unions, and climate groups, including the National Housing Law Project, Popular Democracy, and the Sunrise Movement.
A Pattern of Reintroduction
This is not the first time Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have brought this legislation forward. The Green New Deal for Public Housing Act was first introduced in 2019, with updated versions reintroduced in 2021 and 2024, though none advanced in previous Congresses. The new housing bill aims to boost home construction and affordability, but the Green New Deal represents a specifically progressive approach focused on public housing modernization and job creation.
The bill addresses a documented crisis in public housing. According to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s office, there is an estimated $70 billion backlog of repairs to the existing public housing stock due to chronic underfunding. Ocasio-Cortez noted in her statement that “from record-breaking heat waves to extreme flooding displacing public housing residents, Americans are feeling the parallel impacts of the housing and climate crisis.”
Sanders emphasized the economic rationale in his statement: “What the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act does is say that yes, we can create decent and affordable public housing for more than 1.5 million Americans that is based on energy efficiency and sustainable sources of power. And that when we do that, we can also create hundreds of thousands of good-paying, union jobs. That is a win-win-win situation.”
The bill’s provisions include community resilience and sustainability measures, climate adaptation systems, and emergency disaster response infrastructure—provisions that take on added urgency as public housing residents face increasing climate impacts. The legislation also expands resident councils so that public housing residents have decision-making authority regarding their homes.
Sources
- Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez official press release — Full details of the August 6, 2026 reintroduction, bill provisions, co-sponsors, union endorsements, and direct quotes from Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders, Ramirez, and union leaders.
- Arch Paper — Confirmation that the bill was first introduced in 2019 and reintroduced in 2021 and 2024 without advancing.
- Senator Elizabeth Warren press release — Documentation of the $70 billion public housing repair backlog due to chronic underfunding.
- Data for Progress and Climate and Community Institute research — Validation of the $172 billion investment figure and job creation estimates.
