This week we did something a little different and brought on two guests: Vice Mayor Kesha Hodge Washington of Phoenix and Louisiana State Senator Royce Duplessis of New Orleans. They co-chair the NewDEAL Forum Housing Task Force, which just released its culminating report on what state and local leaders are actually doing about housing costs. Not white-paper theater, actual programs with budgets attached.

What I appreciated most is that neither of them talks about housing like an abstraction. Kesha told us about Phoenix residents who work full-time jobs, clock out, and go back to a shelter bed, and about the city’s new master leasing pilot that puts the city on the lease so someone with a past eviction or no deposit can still get keys. Royce explained why the mortgage is no longer the hard part in Louisiana, where insurance premiums have doubled for many families in just a few years, and how a fortified roof grant comes with a guaranteed cut to your premium.

We also got into the language problem in housing policy. Nobody dreams of an accessory dwelling unit. People do dream of a casita for an aging parent or a kid home from college. If Democrats want to win on affordability this cycle, and we should, that translation plus results people can actually see is the whole game.