Urge Congress to Pass a Budget with Strong Homeless and Affordable Housing Programs. From ELCA Advocacy.

In February, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) took new steps toward addressing patterns of segregation and expanding fair access to housing by proposing a change in policy through a proposed rule. Comment by April 10 as it makes its way through the federal rulemaking process.

As homelessness overwhelms downtown Phoenix, a small business wonders how long it can hang on. By Eli Saslow for The New York Times.

Fabric patches and invitations to members of Congress ~ including two from Arizona ~ to visit ministries addressing homelessness and housing in their districts were delivered by ELCA advocates on Capitol Hill last week.

This leader’s guide is designed to help you plan your next service opportunity. It’s organized into four steps (Preparation, Action, Reflection and Celebration) and will walk you through how to make the most out of your service opportunity. From ELCA World Hunger.

Does your congregation work with communities experiencing homelessness? Are you willing to host a site visit with a member of Congress sometime in the coming year at your congregation or ministry, highlighting the community’s needs and concerns?

Newly updated from ELCA World Hunger, this brief guide provides some suggestions for finding data related to several areas that impact food security: housing, employment and food access. Each section describes how to find the most reliable data.

Housing: A Practical Guide for Learning, Advocating and Building is a new ELCA World Hunger resource for congregations who want to learn about and take action to address the housing crisis in their communities.

By June 30, Faith-based Sign On Letter: Help stop cyclical homelessness by supporting Housing First, a strategic model that helps stop cyclical homelessness and keeps the most vulnerable stably housed. From ELCA Advocacy.

The social message “Homelessness: A Renewal of Commitment” states that housing is a fundamental right even though policies and practices of government and economic institutions are not adequately responding.

The results of a national opinion poll reveals that the public is deeply concerned about the housing affordability crisis and favors decisive government action. The Tarrance Group conducted the poll and found that nearly 9 in 10 (89%) respondents across all political parties believe the role of government is important when it comes to making sure there is enough affordable housing.

This fall, as Congress continues to work on an historic new infrastructure package, it is an opportune moment to encourage our lawmakers to support greater access to affordable housing.

Some 290,000 households received the aid in June, up from 160,000 in May and 100,000 in April. Still, more than 11 million Americans, or 16% of U.S. renters, say they aren’t caught up with their housing payments as the eviction ban expiration date of July 31 looms.

Metro Phoenix had an eviction problem before the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents in Maricopa County were more than twice as likely to lose a home to eviction than the typical U.S. resident from 2014-2018. On July 31, the final eviction moratorium will expire, and evictions are expected to return to their pre-pandemic pace — if not exceed it.

Many evictions in the U.S. are on hold for at least one more month. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention's ban on some types of rental evictions had been set to expire this week, but it has now been extended through July.

To catch us up on what that means in Arizona, The Show spoke with KJZZ’s Katherine Davis-Young.

“This is one of the largest expansions of an anti-poverty program we’ve probably ever seen,” said Elyssa Schmier, vice president of government relations and national budget at the advocacy organization MomsRising. “It will likely cut poverty in half over the next year, childhood poverty in particular.”

Roughly 10% of renters over age 65 are behind on their rent, according to a recent analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. That means some 800,000 older people may be at risk of having to leave their homes when the national eviction moratorium expires on [July 31].

Phoenix area evictions didn’t stop during the pandemic. Here’s why.