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Book Description: With the acute need for affordable housing—a national crisis—we need workable solutions. In the U.S. each year it is estimated there are 3.5 million homeless men, women and children. One in four U.S. households reported spending more on their housing than is considered affordable (according to the Federal Government we should be spending no more than 30 percent of total income on housing) This crisis affects very low-to middle-income households as well as companies unable to pay salaries that adequately cover housing costs—preventing companies from recruiting and retaining the brightest and best employees. Churches are addressing the housing crisis from Washington State—where the largest apple producer has built 150 single-family homes for their employees—to New York City—where an alliance of 60 churches has now built 4,000 homes. In New York, the investment of low-income homeowners has transformed Brooklyn and South Bronx, it has dramatically decreased crime, and has recreated the kind community pride that continues to infuse health and vitality to all sectors of those communities: public schools, local businesses, and thriving congregations. The national affordable housing crisis is something congregations and faith-based groups often want to address, yet feel powerless to do so in the face of this daunting and confusing problem. Making Housing Happen provides workable solutions illustrated by true stories that inspire, as well as provide a theological basis for a housing ministry. Each story features a different model of how affordability was achieved, a different denomination, and different geographic locations that span the United States. This book is about vision and faith—trusting God to do more than any church imagined in meeting the needs of homeless families, the working poor, and even middle-income earners such as teachers and police officers, who cannot afford to live in the city they serve. Its three parts, "The Foundation," "The Tangible Structures," and "The Intangible Structures" motivate the reader to action. |
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