Homeless & Housing

A decent and stable home, whether owned or leased, whether in America or elsewhere in the world, is the platform on which human beings build their lives. Homelessness or housing that is unaffordable defeats a person's best efforts to hold a job, perform in school, stay healthy, and build a strong family. A million and a half affordable apartments built with public funds in the United States are at risk of being converted to high rent housing unaffordable even to those who work full time in the low-wage jobs that make our society function. Nearly 16 million Americans spend more than half of their incomes on housing, leaving too little for basic food, transportation and health care. Around the world, cities regularly bulldoze slums, destroying the only savings of the very poor, but do nothing to replace those homes. UN Habitat has set a goal of improving the lives of 100 million slum residents by 2020.

Government programs are essential, but they alone have not met and will not meet this need. Citizen sector organizations around the world are taking the lead in keeping the affordable homes that we already have, upgrading or replacing slum housing, building new homes with locally appropriate materials and technology, and engaging the poor in addressing their own housing needs. Others are serving the homeless, those with disabilities, and destitute seniors. Citizen sector leaders, many from the communities they serve, have developed the transformative ideas that can produce decent, stable housing. What they need are much greater resources from the public, one donation at a time, to take those ideas and programs to a scale that makes a difference.

Source: Stewards of Affordable Housing