Foundation Grants
Community Vital Signs
About Us
It Can Impact Anyone: Experts, Community Members Discuss Need For Affordable Housing
Foundation: Arizona Community Foundation
"This is not an aberration. Until we deal with these, we are always going to have this problem." That from Rashad Shabazz, an Arizona State University professor, and housing expert who spoke Wednesday at the Arizona Republic's "Finding Home" event in Tempe, which focused on the state's housing crisis.
The problem, the Republic reports, is that there's simply not enough affordable housing to meet the state's needs, with an additional 270,000 units needed across the state.
In Maricopa County, the state's most populous, 44% of renters are cost-burdened - meaning they spend more than a third of their income on housing - compared to 20% of homeowners, says Ashlee Tziganuk, a research fellow at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy.
"The reality is people are very much struggling on a personal level," she says, adding that renters are much more likely to be cost-burdened than homeowners.
The issue isn't limited to Arizona, the Washington Post reports, noting that the national median rent for a one-bedroom apartment is $2,755, and in Phoenix, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $3,080.
The housing market was constructed to serve upper- and middle-class white homebuyers, Shabazz said.
Early mortgage lending was limited to white borrowers, allowing white families to accumulate wealth through homeownership for generations.
The same opportunity was not accessible to people of color, he said. Allowing housing to be dictated by market-force development has also led to scarcity and a dramatic increase in costs, Shabazz said, creating the acute need for affordable housing that is being felt across the country.“These two fundamental flaws were always going to lead us to this point,” he said.
Read the Entire Article
Selected Foundation News
A customized collection of news from foundations from around the Web.
The Green Climate Fund is the world's biggest dedicated fund designed to help developing countries mitigate and adapt to climate changeand it's looking for new investments. Henry Gonzalez, the...more
Two of the world's biggest financial institutions have come together to call for an end to plastic pollution. In a joint statement, Triodos Bank and Triodos Investment Management say it's...more
"The future of our nation hinges upon its young,educated, and socially conscious demographic," State Bank of India CEOjay Prakash says in a press release. Prakash is referring to the roughly 1...more
"When I met with Gibson and a fellow trustee, Ronnie Greenwood, we quickly established a working relationship to consider how music students at [the University of the West of Scotland's] Ayr Campus...more
Nancy Brinker is the founder of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer charity, but she's also the author of a best-selling memoir about her own battle with the disease. So it was only...more
A team of University of Pittsburgh health sciences students has won a " Healthy Equity Innovation Award" at a national case competition for their plan to deal with a pandemic involving...more
"By investing in our employees' holistic well-being, we are setting a new standard for what it means to be a truly people-first organization in the healthcare industry." So says John Sebastian,...more
WhenBilha Obaigwa arrived in the US from Kenya in 2019, she had already earned a bachelor's degree in law back home in her native Kenya. So she set out to pursue a master's degree in health law...more
"People often ask me why I chose wood. The answer is, that was the material that was available to me," said Thaddeus Mosley at SculptureCenter's annual gala in New York City last night. The...more
"When your peers are staring at you, waiting for instruction, it makes it hard to want to experiment, or create the sense of dynamism or play that brings music to life." So says James Spinazzola,...more
Social Entrepreneurship
Spotlight
Why People Buy from Social Enterprises?
The Guardian has compiled a list of responses to its latest open thread, and has announced the winner of the social enterprise gift hamper packed with presents.