National Coalition tries to get the news media to include housing in the presidential debates

By Dennis Archambault

The housing crisis in the United States is filling the streets (and rural lands) with homes people. It’s estimated that there is a need for 7 million affordable and low-income units in the country – nearly 40,000 in Michigan alone, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. While the Coalition’s advocacy has been effective in lessening the problem and achieving some gains in the federal budget, the virtual absence of national policy in this and other human service areas is exacerbating the situation.

How the housing policy has not made it to the list of discussion points in the presidential debates is a mystery. The Coalition has done everything possible to orient debate moderators to this issue, asking that just one question be added to the topics – unsuccessfully.

In a letter to PBS NewsHour, Politico, and moderators of the Los Angeles Democratic Presidential Debate, the Coalition noted that “Our country is in the grips of a severe and pervasive housing affordability crisis… Rents have risen faster than renters’ incomes over the last two decades and while more people are renting than ever, the supply of housing has lagged. Fewer than four affordable and available rental homes exist for every 10 of the lowest-income renter households.” The letter ran as a full-page ad in the LA Times, in an effort to influence the moderators of the final debate in Los Angeles.

Democratic Party candidates have released housing plans to address this issue. Over 61 percent of the respondents to a national opinion poll report having to make at least one sacrifice in the past three years because they were struggling with housing costs – which includes purchasing nutritious food or accessing health services.

Affordable housing, of course, is just one of several social determinants of health that are contributing to the poor health status that exists in Wayne County and other regions where large numbers of low-income populations exist.

Dennis Archambault is vice president of Public Affairs for Authority Health.