“How Will You Pay for Your Proposals?”

As Mayor, Khan will make adding 100,000 PERMANENTLY AFFORDABLE HOMES in Washington DC a top priority. Under Khan’s plan, fair, safe, and affordable housing will be added at record pace, with mortgages and rents capped at $900 for a 1-bedroom, $1,250 for 2-bedroom and $1,500 for 3-bedroom units. These are prices not seen since 1984 (adjusted for inflation) — when Reagan was President — for even Republicans should support this, right?

Rebuilding Washington, DC

For decades, our national priorities have been upside down. While families in Wards 7 and 8 and other parts of DC struggle with skyrocketing rents and displacement, we are told there is 'no money' for affordable housing. Yet, when it comes to endless wars and unproven and failed weapons systems, the money is always there. Since 2000, the U.S. has committed trillions of dollars to wars and weapons systems that have failed and did not meet strategic needs. The Department of War / Pentagon has NEVER passed a financial audit! Trillions of dollars remain unaccounted for. Such spending has especially benefited those who built mansions and installed their kids in Ivy League schools, top law firms and Fortune 50 companies.

They look at Khan’s platform—the $900 rent caps, the $50 minimum wage for those who build our city and keep it running, 36 weeks of paid parental leave, no-cost, universal childcare, the $100,000 teacher base salaries, free buses +24/7 Metro, nonprofit supermarkets, replacement of all lead water pipes—and they say, ‘Mr. Khan, how are you going to pay for it?’

Khan has a simple answer: We will treat rebuilding the capital of our nation as a National Security Issue. We have a military budget that is bloated beyond recognition, while the very people tasked with protecting this nation—the workers right here in D.C.—are being squeezed out of their own homes.

Right now, we have thousands of residents holding secret and top-secret clearances. These are the people handling our nation’s most sensitive data. And yet, many of them are one missed paycheck away from a crisis. When a patriot with a security clearance can’t afford their rent or their kid’s childcare, they don't just become desperate—they become a national security risk. Financial stress is the number one gateway for bribery and foreign espionage.

We are telling the federal government: If D.C. isn't stable, the country isn't safe.

We need to treat Washington, D.C. like a national security priority. We need to rebuild this city with the same intensity and funding we use for war-torn nations. We don't need another overseas 'nation-building' project; we need a National Capital Building Project.

Replacing every lead pipe isn't just plumbing; it’s public health security. A $50 minimum wage isn't just a raise; it’s economic fortification.

The money is there. It’s sitting in silos and weapon systems that don't make us safer. I’m not asking for a handout; I’m demanding a strategic investment in the survival of our city. If we can afford to police the globe, we can afford to make sure a teacher in Ward 8 can live where they work.

It’s time we stopped paying for destruction abroad and started paying for greatness at home.

The Power of Demand

They call our platform ‘impossible.’ But history tells a different story.

Every single freedom we take for granted today was once called 'impossible.' From the abolition of slavery to women’s suffrage, from desegregation to Civil Rights, Voting Rights, and Marriage Equality—not a single one was 'given' to us by a generous government. They were won because people united, rose up, and demanded change until the status quo broke.

But here is the difference: We don't have decades to wait.

We are living in a city where your zip code determines if you live or die. We have a 17-year life expectancy gap and a $200,000 income gap between our Wards. This isn't just 'inequality'—it is the fuel for our crime crisis and our broken schools. We have children drinking from lead-poisoned pipes and a housing crisis so severe it threatens our national security.

As Khan notes, “I am telling you today: I cannot do this alone. A Mayor is only as strong as the movement behind them. My platform will only be implemented when the residents of this city rise as one and demand that the federal government treat the capital of the free world with the same urgency they treat a foreign war.

The money is there. The federal government could cut one check from a military budget that is already overflowing and fix these problems within my first term. They have the resources; what they lack is the pressure.

If we wait for 'the right time,' it will never come. If we wait for the establishment to 'find the budget,' they never will. We must be the generation that stops asking for permission and starts demanding results. We must unite, we must rise, and we must take our city back.”