Housing is a basic human need. Nationwide, 9 million low income renter households compete for only 6.2 million rental homes they can afford. Today, hundreds of thousands of people are on waiting lists for rental assistance, which are only getting longer. Furthermore, a particularly tragic result of increased poverty is increased homelessness.

The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing. Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. The State of Affordable Housing in the United States.

An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing, and a family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

This year, the Fighting Poverty with Faith mobilization is seeking full funding of the National Housing Trust Fund.  Learn about the National Housing Trust Fund here.

Resources on Affordable Housing :

• Download Catholic Charities’ “Home is the Foundation” Issue Brief.
  
• Section 8 Consolidation Program Application.  Our mission is to help those that are low income find applications online for various government rental assistance programs nation wide. In addition, we help our clients to discover many other programs that would benefit a low income person.
• Federal Preservation tools: exist to help preserve the subsidized affordable housing stock. Provide a variety of  incentives to owners to remain in the federal programs and funds for property rehabilitation and gap financing through grants of loans.

Resources About Housing and Poverty in the U.S.

• Interactive map of poverty data by congressional district from Half in Ten

• Food Insecurity and Hunger Data from the Food Research and Action Center

• Newsweek interview with Bread for the World’s President, David Beckmann, that covers some of the basics regarding food insecurity in America today

Additional Resources

• Ramadan Action Guide. A guide to taking action to overcome poverty during Ramadan, created by Islamic Relief USA, the Islamic Society of North America, the ONE campaign, the Alliance to End Hunger, and the Hunger-Free Communities Network. Includes information about Fighting Poverty with Faith programs.

Other Organizations focused on Domestic Poverty

• Institution for Children and Poverty
• Bread for the World
• Shriver Center on Poverty Law
• National Alliance to End Homelessness
• Half In Ten
• Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity

Other Opportunities to Get Involved

• OXFAM International Health & Education Campaign
• Economic Policy Institute’s Interactive Unemployment Map
• Bread for the World Poverty/Hunger Information
• National Council of Churches Poverty Resources:
  • Poverty Fact Sheet
  • Advocacy Toolkit
  • Rural Poverty Fact Sheet
• For information about Catholic Charities USA Poverty Campaign, click here.