Housing for the People: “Like the air we breathe, housing is a basic human need”

We live in a deep economic crisis that’s devastating families across the nation. From lack of affordable housing, access to childcare and jobs with living wages, families are struggling to survive. This is not a new phenomenon; the pandemic has just made it much worse.

The most critical issue is housing as it is the foundation for which we build our lives. There is no excuse that in the richest country in the world we have so many of our neighbors, including children, living on the streets or having to spending so much of their income on rent or a mortgage that they are barely keeping their head above the water.

Take my case, for example. I spent three of my five years in Oregon without a home, living in the national forest with my husband and two young kids who are now ages 11 and 9. We moved from Florida thinking the housing crisis may be better in the West, but it’s worse. I was making $19 an hour before being laid off due to COVID and I still couldn’t afford to rent in my community. The only reason we were able to obtain housing was because of federal housing programs, which remain severely underfunded.

Indeed, we need solutions and policies that assure all of us have a place to call home. That must be the American dream, embracing our values for a caring economy that uplifts families regardless of how much money they have or where they were born.

Over the last several decades, the United States government has underfunded and undermined federal housing programs for the most economically vulnerable. It is time for a transformative housing agenda that guarantees homes for all.

To recover beyond the pandemic, families require transforming housing into a system that is equitable through bolder changes and longer-term investments. Massive investments in housing must be used to provide Americans with a place to sleep, rest, share meals and live their lives. Let them feel the relief they have needed by helping secure housing in our communities and by helping our families.

Housing is critical community infrastructure that must be planned, operated and financed for public good. Let’s do the right thing and invest in building, maintaining and preserving affordable housing in America. The need is dire and will only continue to get worse. Like air to breathe and food to eat, safe, stable, affordable housing is a basic human need. Without it, folks will continue living in survival mode and unable to focus the opportunity of a better life.

It’s time for our elected leaders everywhere to vote for change and support investments in things like childcare, rent assistance, public housing, and homeless services. It’s time to give individuals and families across our country hope for a brighter tomorrow. There’s no better time than the present.

Mandee Seeley is a Florida grown advocate with lived experience of addiction and houselessness who has found her community in Central Oregon. When she’s not trying to save the world, she enjoys exploring, hiking and reading to expand her body, mind and soul.

Housing for the People is a column produced by the International Network of Street Papers from people on the frontlines of the housing justice movement in America and beyond.

Courtesy of INSP North America / International Network of Street Papers