Student

Running head: AFFORDABLE HOUSING ADVOCATES

Affordable Housing Advocates

Janiece Sasser

University of Phoenix

Affordable Housing Advocates

California prohibits discrimination in all aspects of the housing business. Discrimination is the deliberate differentiation between groups of people based on religion, sex, ethnicity, sexual preference, disability, educational level and age. Unfortunately, there is a special population that is not actively included in this preventative policy. Low income and working families are not given obligatory accommodations in federal and local policy that guarantees their ability to secure a modest home or apartment at a reasonable rate. “The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to ending America's affordable housing crisis. We believe that this is achievable, that the affordable housing crisis is a problem that Americans are capable of solving. While we are concerned about the housing circumstances of all low income people, we focus our advocacy on those with the most serious housing problems, the lowest income households (National Low Income Housing Coalition [NLIHC], 2006)”.

Affordable housing in our state is few and far between. There are several working families and persons with disabilities that are qualified for help by merely looking at their payroll stubs; however they do not meet all requirements mandated for admittance into such housing assistance programs. According to a report released by the NLIHC and another advocacy group called Housing California, “Across the nation a household must earn $17.32 per hour to meet just the basic housing needs but in California, the second most expensive rental market, a wage of $24.01 per hour is needed (Housing California, 2007)”. Families are becoming homeless because their paychecks are not in sync with rising rent costs.

According to Housing California, the state of California loses many residents regularly to states who maintain a more evenhanded housing market. Our current housing market is comparable to a supermarket that sells only filet mignon and caviar; it is an extremely exclusive market. The supporters of Housing California claim that our housing market is broken and it fails to accommodate the varied needs of the population. Families that are looking to purchase a home in San Joaquin County are falling short of the median income needed to maintain their households by almost $40,000. In neighboring Stanislaus County the deficit between ideal incomes to housing expenses is almost $33,000. Proponents of affordable housing say that in order to change

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