National Network to End Domestic Violence Joins Campaign Steering Committee
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| The National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) announced on June 20 that it will join the campaign’s Steering Committee. As a Steering Committee member, NNEDV will engage its network of advocates to advance more robust and equitable federal housing policies for people with the lowest incomes.
“Many domestic violence survivors are forced to flee their homes to escape dangerous and life-threatening violence and are evicted at much higher rates from affordable housing,” said Dr. Wendy B. Mahoney, NNEDV interim president and CEO. “Survivors face higher rates of eviction and housing discrimination due to their survivor status, being blamed for actions of the harm-doer, and historical racial and family size discrimination in housing. A well-documented lack of safe, affordable housing options leaves many survivors, and particularly survivors of color, without a choice but to survive outside or live in unstable and violent housing situations.”
NNEDV is the latest addition to the campaign’s Steering Committee, which now totals 20 members. Chaired by NLIHC, the Steering Committee also includes the National Alliance to End Homelessness, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Catholic Charities USA, Children’s HealthWatch, Catholic Charities USA, Children’s Defense Fund, Community Catalyst, Food Research and Action Center, JustLeadershipUSA, NAACP, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Association of Community Health Centers, National Association of Social Workers, National Education Association, National League of Cities, National LGBTQ Task Force, National Women’s Law Center, Natural Resources Defense Council, and UnidosUS.
NNEDV provides training and assistance to coalitions against domestic violence in all 56 states and territories. Formed in 1990, NNEDV works to make domestic violence a national priority; change the way society responds to domestic violence; and strengthen domestic violence advocacy at every level. |
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NLIHC Releases Out of Reach 2024: The High Cost of Housing
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| NLIHC released today Out of Reach 2024: The High Cost of Housing. Published annually, the Out of Reach report highlights the gulf between the wages people earn and the price of modest rental housing in every state, county, and metropolitan area in the U.S. This year’s report shows that despite rising wages, cooling inflation, and low unemployment, low-wage workers and other renters with low incomes continue to struggle with the cost of rent. |
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| The high cost of housing in the U.S. impacts access to other essential needs, with extremely low-income households disproportionately affected. The report highlights how millions of households earning low wages and facing high housing costs are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their incomes on rent and utilities. Because cost-burdened households must dedicate a higher share of their income to housing, they have less to spend on other basic necessities, like food, childcare, transportation, and health care. Extremely low-income renter households are more likely to be seniors, have disabilities, be students, or be single-adult caregivers. Further, due to a legacy of discrimination in housing, employment and education, Black and Hispanic renter households are disproportionately cost burdened. |
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Multi-Sector Briefing on Ending Green Gentrification and Creating Healthy and Resilient Homes for All
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| The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) hosted a virtual briefing in collaboration with OSAH, Physicians for Social Responsibility-Los Angeles (PSR-LA), and Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing (SMASH) on June 12. The event focused on the pressing issue of green gentrification and its impact on displacement across various geographic areas and climate zones.
The briefing featured experts who shared their insights about the intersections of health, environment, and housing outcomes resulting from green gentrification and highlighted the ways partnerships across different sectors foster effective solutions. The event followed another discussion among the partners, during which findings from a new report, Healthy, Climate-Resilient Homes for All: Centering Housing Justice and Health Equity in Building Decarbonization, were shared. The report underscores the critical role of housing policies in promoting environmental justice and health equity and emphasizes the urgent need for federal policymakers to tackle the nation’s affordable housing crisis.
Panelists at the briefing included:
- Dr. Sabrina Johnson (Natural Resources Defense Council)
- Edgar Barraza (Physicians for Social Responsibility, Los Angeles)
- Trenise Bryant (Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing)
- Chris Selig (People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights)
- Grecia Orozco (Center for Race, Poverty, and the Environment)
- Chantelle Wilkinson (OSAH)
During the discussion, the panelists not only shared the multi-sector impacts of green gentrification but also uplifted the experiences of frontline, historically underrepresented communities of color and systems-impacted individuals. The conversation emphasized the necessity of implementing climate and housing solutions at local, state, and federal levels.
Watch a recording of the discussion & use passcode 0sjf5*. |
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Updated Fact Sheet on LGBTQIA+ Equity and Housing
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| The campaign released an updated multi-sector fact sheet addressing the barriers faced by LGBTQIA+ people in accessing affordable housing. Research increasingly shows that safe, stable, and affordable housing is a critical driver of positive outcomes in many areas of life but is less often accessible to members of the LGBTQIA+ community. The new fact sheet was developed with the help of leading LGBTQIA+ advocacy sector partners, including the National LGBTQ Taskforce and the National Women’s Law Center.
In total, the campaign has posted 16 multi-sector fact sheets to its website. Each fact sheet compiles landmark research to help policymakers, opinion leaders, and the public understand the deep connections between housing and other national priorities, from healthcare to education and economic growth. Advocates are encouraged to download these fact sheets to help them reach out to potential allies in other fields to make the case for cross-sector collaboration. To broaden the movement for housing justice, we must ensure allies in other sectors fully appreciate the extent to which housing influences their own priorities and goals.
See the full list of fact sheets here. |
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RSVP for the Poor People’s Campaign Assembly and Moral March on 6/29
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| The campaign urges partners to join other advocates from across the country on June 29th, to participate in the “Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly and Moral March on Washington D.C. & to the Polls” and help mobilize impacted poor and low-wage workers and their allies to attend. The mass assembly and moral march will be led by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, with whom we will be partnering to mobilize our network to participate. The gathering will take place on Saturday, June 29th at 10am ET, at 3rd & Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington DC. For those who are unable to attend in person, you can view the assembly online by indicating that on your RSVP form. Advocates from afar who want to be involved in this effort are encouraged to stream the event online, engage with the Poor People’s Campaign social media content, and follow updates on the march and campaign which you can find here:
Facebook: @anewppc
Twitter: @UniteThePoor
Instagram: @poorpeoplescampaign
Hashtags: #PoorPeoplesCampaign #MoralMarchOnWashington #DeathByPoverty #3rdReconstructionAgenda #MoralMovement |
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| For the past six years, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival has been working to build organizing infrastructure across the nation to continue the unfinished work of the original Poor People’s Campaign, which was led by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Today, the campaign is working to ensure that the over 135 million poor and low-income people in our nation — from every race, creed, color, sexuality and place — are no longer ignored, dismissed or pushed to the margins of our political and social agenda.
The Poor People’s Campaign was founded in 1967 by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who wanted to create a movement that fought for economic security and addressed poverty by focusing on the intersections of race and class. Fifty years after Dr. King’s assassination, the unfinished work of the campaign was restarted by community leaders and advocates – including NLIHC – who are continuing the fight to unite low-income people of every race, color, creed, and sexuality.
RSVP today to join us on June 29th in the nation’s capital for the “Mass Poor People’s & Low-Wage Workers’ Assembly & Moral March on Washington D.C. & to the Polls.” |
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Letters to Senator Young Urging Advancement of Bipartisan Housing Bills
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| The campaign and state partner Prosperity Indiana in partnership with NLIHC and the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition sent letters to Senator Todd Young (R-IN) on May 14 urging him to reintroduce the “Eviction Crisis Act” in the U.S. Senate and work to include the bill and the “Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act” in any bipartisan housing package that moves forward in the Senate’s Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs.
Signatories to the campaign letter included 29 leading national organizations from an array of sectors, including Catholic Charities USA, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, Food Research & Action Center, National LGBTQ Task Force Action Fund, National Women’s Law Center, and Natural Resources Defense Council.
Signatories to the letter sent by Prosperity Indiana, NLIHC, and the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition included 75 national and Indiana multi-sector organizations, including anti-hunger, health, youth, community development, anti-poverty, and faith-based groups.
Read the letter sent by Prosperity Indiana, NLIHC, and the Hoosier Housing Coalition here. |
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Webinar Exploring Connections between Early Childhood Development, Health, Education and Affordable Housing
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Campaign partner ZERO TO THREE hosted a webinar, “A National Call for Safe, Affordable Housing for Our Children,” on May 22. On the webinar, leading experts from the OSAH campaign, Children’s HealthWatch, SchoolHouse Connection, and the Connecticut Head Start on Housing Program discussed recent findings about the intersections of early childhood development, health, education, and affordable housing and the critical role that the early childhood development sector has in mitigating the impact of housing instability and homelessness. |
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Mollyrose Schaffner, Senior Policy Analyst at ZERO TO THREE, shared findings from the 2023 State of Babies Yearbook that highlight the significant health and developmental risks of housing instability for babies and young children and the importance of stable housing in early childhood development.
Erin Patterson, Director of Education Initiatives at SchoolHouse Connection, discussed conclusions from a recent report that analyzed state-by-state data on infant and toddler homelessness. She also discussed how homelessness is defined in the report and the developmental consequences of homelessness for young children.
Dr. Megan Sandel, Co-lead Principal Investigator at Children’s HealthWatch, discussed the health risks that housing instability and homelessness pose for infants and young children and how stable, affordable housing can mitigate those risks.
Karen Pascale, Director of the Connecticut Head Start Collaboration Office, and Dr. Shanté Hanks, director of Head Start on Housing (HSOH), highlighted the partnership between Head Start and the Connecticut Department of Housing in running the state’s innovative Head Start on Housing Program. They shared the program’s successes and best practices for states interested in similar collaboration.
The full panel discussed why stable, affordable housing is a central concern in advancement of their organization’s mission and how housing advocates can best partner with advocates in the early childhood development, health, and education sectors. Campaign national partners also shared why they participate in the OSAH campaign and encouraged interested attendees to join the Roundtable.
ZERO TO THREE and SchoolHouse Connection are Roundtable members, and Children’s HealthWatch sits on the Steering Committee.
Watch the recording & use passcode R.vWKT6= |
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Joint Center for Housing Studies Highlights Health and Ability, Social, and Economic Risks Contributing to Senior Homelessness
The Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) of Harvard University published a post on its Housing Perspectives blog highlighting findings from a 2023 report, “Pathways into and out of Housing Insecurity and Homelessness,” which analyzed interviews with aging, housing, and homelessness service providers in Boston. While existing research has documented the myriad factors that can increase a person’s risk of experiencing homelessness, the 2023 report revealed that adults 50 and older are especially at risk of housing insecurity resulting from age-related changes. The report divides age-related factors into three categories: economic, health and ability, and social. Each factor is further influenced by individual circumstances, older adult-specific circumstances, and broader policy conditions, including housing affordability, accessibility, and supply. The report and blog post provide additional evidence of the inextricable connections between health and access to affordable housing among seniors.
Older adults living on a fixed income are especially susceptible to housing cost burdens, as housing costs rise and outpace rises in income. Many older adults also lose income when a spouse dies and they are unable to receive housing assistance due to the insufficient funding of rental subsidy programs. Without a larger supply of affordable housing or access to housing assistance, rising housing costs or the death of a partner can spiral into housing loss and potentially homelessness.
Moreover, many older adults have mobility limitations, but less than 4% of the national housing stock is accessible, which requires many people to either modify their homes or navigate an already narrow housing search to find a home that is both affordable and accessible. Health conditions that are more common as a person ages can increase an older adult’s need for support from family and friends when performing daily living activities. The loss of that support can lead to housing instability and, in the worst cases, homelessness. More accessible and affordable housing options for older adults are needed, including fully funded rental assistance and home modification programs.
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Fact of the Month: Homelessness Among Veterans Fell as Targeted Voucher Program Expanded
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