Strong Labor Protections Are Non-Negotiable
Affordable Housing Must Include Them, Full Stop. Gambling Them Away Is a Grave Mistake.
A rendering shows the now-completed Ventana Residences at 99 Ocean Avenue. Ventana, an affordable housing project, was financed with capital from union pension funds and utilized a 100%-union-construction workforce to provide below-market-rate housing, including 48 units reserved exclusively for union workers. – Image courtesy RG Architecture
In California, we’ve been struggling to deal with the housing crisis for well over a decade. Cities across the United States are now racing to address their own housing crises, which have become a nationwide issue in our post-Covid economy.
As a result, the construction of affordable housing has bubbled up as a key policy focus, just as it has been in the Golden State for many years now. But supposedly well-intentioned governments and developers that have pledged to build housing for those most in need all too often fail to consider the workers who bring these projects to life.
That type of thinking has led to a troubling trend: Affordable housing construction projects exclude strong labor protections, creating a second-tier system in which workers on such projects earn less, face more dangerous working conditions, and lack access to essential benefits compared to their counterparts building market-rate housing.
This is unacceptable. Despite the best of intentions — building affordable housing faster — this disparity is unjust and counterproductive. It should go without saying that workers who construct affordable housing deserve the same dignity and protections as those building in the luxury residential space.
After all, research supports the fact that strong labor standards not only uphold fairness but also contribute to the quality and cost-effectiveness of housing projects. As recent research from UC Berkeley demonstrates, incorporating labor agreements does not significantly inflate the cost of affordable housing projects and delivers crucial benefits for workers and communities.
Labor Protections or Affordable Housing: A False Dichotomy
One common argument against including strong labor protections in the form of prevailing wages or project labor agreements, for instance, is the perception that these measures will increase overhead costs and reduce the number of affordable units built. However, a 2024 study by the UC Berkeley Labor Center found no substantial evidence to support this claim. The report analyzed affordable housing projects in California and found that those subject to PLAs guaranteeing fair wages, decent benefits, and reasonable working conditions were completed at costs comparable to projects without such agreements.
Perhaps even more interesting is that the study noted that labor protections help attract a skilled and stable workforce whose reliability reduced worker turnover and accelerated project timelines. That level of stability ultimately offsets any marginal cost increases and ensures that projects are delivered efficiently. By contrast, lower wages and weaker protections were found to result in worker shortages, timeline delays, and quality issues. These types of jobsite issues defeat the very purpose of affordable housing initiatives.
Two Tiers: Morally and Economically Unsound
A bifurcated labor system wherein affordable-housing construction workers are treated as second-class citizens is a deeply inequitable practice. It sends the message that the labor of some workers is less valuable than that of others, even when those workers are performing the same work.
Beyond the simplest notions of fairness, such a system has economic repercussions. When construction workers are underpaid and go without benefits, they’re more likely to struggle with housing insecurity themselves. This perpetuates a cycle in which those building affordable housing cannot afford to live in it, undermining the broader goals of housing justice.
Worse still, weakening labor protections in affordable housing construction disproportionately harms vulnerable workers, including the immigrants and people of color who make up a significant portion of the construction workforce. Upholding strong labor standards in these projects is essential to addressing systemic inequalities and making certain that public investments actually provide a benefit to all members of society.
A Path Forward
The solution to this injustice isn’t too difficult: Governments and developers must integrate robust labor protections into affordable housing projects as a baseline standard. Policies requiring prevailing wages, apprenticeship programs, and PLAs should be implemented universally. That way, distinctions between affordable and market-rate housing construction won’t be used against construction workers.
Cities like Los Angeles have shown us that labor protections and affordable housing goals can harmoniously coexist. L.A., which has prioritized fair wages and local hiring, is creating pipelines for good jobs while taking meaningful strides to address its housing crisis. This model should be scaled statewide to ensure that the pursuit of affordability doesn’t come at the expense of worker dignity.
The affordable housing crisis is one of the foremost issues of our time; it’s obvious that it demands immediate action. But its resolution must not come at the cost of fairness and equity for construction workers. We must continue to take a strong stand against it whenever it’s floated as a policy concept.
If we truly believe in housing as a human right, then we must also believe in the rights of those who build that housing. Affordable housing should uplift communities, not reinforce inequity. That begins with treating all workers with the respect and protections that they deserve.