To tackle both the climate crisis and the housing affordability crisis, two progressive lawmakers reintroduced a bill on Monday to invest in public housing over the course of 10 years.

Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York introduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing Act, which would invest $172 billion in green retrofits and create up to 240,000 jobs per year across the country. It would also work to transition the entire public housing stock in the country to zero-carbon, highly energy-efficient developments that produce renewable energy and expand workforce capacity.

“It is unacceptable that over half-a-million people in America, the richest country on Earth, are homeless,” Sanders said in a statement. “It is unacceptable that for so many working people it is incredibly hard to find affordable housing. It is unacceptable that our nation’s public housing is in a state of chronic disrepair and energy inefficiency after generations of government neglect.”

According to a summary, the bill would create two new grant programs to reform US public housing through deep energy retrofits to increase energy savings in all 950,000 public housing units, and it would also prioritize good-paying jobs to strengthen community workforce development.

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