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Who We Are


Opportunity Starts at Home is a long-term, multi-sector campaign to meet the rental housing needs of the nation’s low-income people.

Housing affordability is central to other national priorities, like health care, food security, education and more. Yet the gap between rents and incomes is growing, and this is compounded by unprecedented threats to federal housing assistance.  Proven solutions to ending homelessness and housing instability exist – what’s missing is the political will to provide resources that will put these solutions into practice in communities across the nation.


The National Low Income Housing Coalition launched the Opportunity Starts at Home campaign together with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Children’s HealthWatch, and the National Alliance to End Homelessness, and with a steering committee of partners including Catholic Charities USA, the Children’s Defense Fund, Community Catalyst, the Food Research and Action Center, JustLeadershipUSA, NAACP, National Alliance on Mental Illness, the National Association of Community Health Centers, the National Association of Social Workers, the National Education Association, the National League of Cities, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the National Women’s Law Center, National Network to End Domestic Violence, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and UnidosUS.

The time to act is now

Various sectors are recognizing that affordable homes are inextricably linked to their own priorities and concerns.  The work to expand affordable housing solutions cannot be done by housing advocates alone.  So expanded cross-sector coalitions are working together to increase federal investments in proven solutions to make homes affordable to low-income people.

In the face of an unprecedented housing affordability crisis, along with the undeniable, cross-cutting realities of the research and the imminent threats to federal housing assistance, powerful new constituencies are possible in ways that they haven’t been before.

See the resolution

Campaign Goals


The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign seeks to expand federal housing resources and correct longstanding structural and racial inequities to ensure that people with the lowest incomes can afford a good home, which adds to their quality of life through better health, greater educational attainment, and stronger earnings. To achieve this ambitious long-term goal, three key policy strategies are essential:

  1. Expand rental assistance for every income-eligible household.
  2. Expand the stock of housing affordable to households with the lowest incomes.
  3. Stabilize households by providing emergency assistance to avert housing instability and homelessness.

Steering Committee


The Steering Committee is chaired by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.  The members of the Steering Committee represent a wide range of national organizations that support the goals of the campaign and work together to address the affordable housing crisis.

Funders


The Opportunity Starts at Home campaign is powered with the generous contributions of our donors. Their support will help ensure that America’s low-income households have access to safe, decent, and stable affordable housing in neighborhoods where everyone has equitable opportunities to thrive.

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