We know that healthy communities exist within the context of a healthy environment — and right now, both are threatened. There is a housing shortage across the country, with many hard-working families unable to find a place to live. There is also a climate crisis, with greenhouse gas emissions threatening the stability of all our planet’s ecosystems and biodiversity. We believe that the following principles represent one piece of the solution to both of these crises:

• Re-legalizing a variety of modest, mid-size home choices, like accessory dwelling units, duplexes, triplexes, and townhomes in residential city neighborhoods.
• Protecting our farms and forests for carbon sequestration by building up within our existing cities and towns, instead of out where new land must be cleared, new roads built, and reliance on personal vehicles increases.
• Preserving existing homes and buildings is an efficient use of resources, generates less waste than new construction, and is an important way to prevent displacement of our neighbors.
• Investments in multi-modal transportation networks like transit and bike lanes allow more families to live in close proximity to town centers without increasing vehicular traffic and congestion.