Five of our seven family members are considered essential workers.

I provide administrative support to the Center for Pediatric Obesity Medicine at the University of Minnesota. My husband, Jacques, works at the Minnesota Veteran’s Home. My oldest son does research at the University of Minnesota. My youngest son works in environmental services for a hospital. Another son works nights, and often overtime, at a grocery store.

Every day we leave the safety and comfort our home to support and care for the people in our community. Whenever one of us heads out, our family is reassured that our home will be here for us to return to. It saddens me that every family doesn’t have the same security a home provides and that the pandemic is making the housing problem that has existed for decades much, much worse. I know that struggle personally because, like so many other lower paid essential workers today, I once lived it. Difficult does not begin to describe what housing instability feels like.

In 1995, my husband and I were barely getting by on one income. We lived in a small, one-bedroom apartment. We had a toddler in tow and a baby on the way. At the time, my husband worked as a nursing assistant making $7 an hour while I stayed at home to care for our little one since childcare was beyond our budget. Living paycheck to paycheck, coupled with the threat of ever-increasing rent, exacerbated our struggle. Remembering what it was like to live under that constant stress back then, I can only imagine what a family in our position then would be facing today.

Thankfully, we found a solution: Habitat for Humanity. Habitat’s homeownership program forever changed our lives. Knowing that we would have the stability of an affordable monthly mortgage payment, that we wouldn’t have to move anymore and that we had enough space to eventually house five children lifted a huge weight off our shoulders. The affordability of our home gave us a life full of possibility — allowing me to go back to school, my husband to maintain a stable career, my children to pursue their passions. It gave each of us a future.

Today, however, the future is uncertain due to COVID-19. Since April, millions have lost their jobs — forcing them to choose between paying their rent or mortgage and keeping the lights on, buying food and other basic necessities. When faced with the need to decide between covering the cost of home and life’s other essentials, you can’t win. And now, another month of late bills, missed payments and impossible decisions is fast approaching for too many.

As we shelter in place and practice social distancing, there are thousands of people for whom this isn’t as straightforward as it sounds. The uncertainty so many of us feel today, they have felt for a lifetime — if not generations. Additionally, the tragic killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis has placed a spotlight on the inequities that have resulted from systemic and persistent racism, inequities that have kept people of color from achieving economic stability across generations. The pandemic and Floyd’s untimely death have challenged us all to recognize, acknowledge and change the ways our communities serve – or fail to serve – everyone, including our historically unequal access to health care and homeownership.

Affordable housing and homeownership happened for me and my family 25 years ago, and I have been an advocate for Habitat and for home affordability in Minnesota ever since. I tell my story because I know our family is not unique. There are hundreds of thousands of families living paycheck-to-paycheck who struggle to find and keep a stable place to live. Through advocacy, we can help raise awareness of this struggle, and through policy, we can help make systemic changes to help them thrive.

Earlier this year, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to join Habitat’s national Cost of Home campaign in sharing our message about the need for home affordability on a national level in the U.S. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act — or CARES Act — passed by Congress and signed into law on March 27 included some measures to provide economic relief for families and businesses, but it must go further. There is still much more to be done to ensure that families have stable, affordable places to call home and that nonprofits, like Habitat, have the support and stability they need to continue serving others in this time of crisis.

Everyone needs and deserves a decent place to call home. Now more than ever, we need to tear down walls of disparity and discrimination and replace them with equality, inclusiveness and understanding. It is up to all of us to forge a path that will allow us to rebuild smarter and better. We can and we will get through this — together. Take action with us today!

Habitat for Humanity is more than a nonprofit housing ministry. We have a vision of a world where we share one humanity, and that’s a world that we believe in and fight for every day. We are a faith-based organization, but we realize that faith alone is not enough. Our faith must be coupled with works and action.

As we share in the sadness, anger and uncertainty that have rocked communities across the United States since the killing of George Floyd — protests of the systemic and racial injustice that have infused and informed the life of our nation — we recognize that we must do more. I must do more.

In recent days, I have fallen to my knees in frequent prayer and reflection, seeking God’s guidance. Guidance to be a better listener. Guidance to be a better leader. Guidance to truly understand that my path as a white man has not been the path of so many of my fellow citizens and that my own experiences cannot be the measure of their journeys; that we must love our neighbors as we love ourselves. And, finally, guidance to own where Habitat must go from here.

I know that I must change. I know that Habitat must change. And we must commit to tangible action.

We must commit to doing the work in our practices, our programs and our networks that brings equity to our efforts and helps bring justice to the communities in which we work. We must, throughout our ministry, do a better job of connecting issues of racial and social injustice with historic barriers to affordable housing and working to eradicate those barriers.

Historic discrimination in U.S. housing policy — particularly discrimination against Black Americans — is one of the chief drivers of racial inequities that persist today. Organizations like Habitat that work on housing must understand that history, and it must inform our work moving forward.

We want each of you, and all of our friends and supporters, to know the decisions we will make in how to proceed. Our answers cannot always be immediate, but I promise you that we will communicate with transparency.

Steps we are undertaking now:

• We have created a Global Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, a new position that will be posted on habitat.org/careers. This new role will serve as a member of our senior leadership team and will report to our chief operating officer.
• We recommit ourselves to taking bold actions to ensure racial equity through our collective advocacy efforts, specifically the Cost of Home campaign. The Cost of Home Policy Platform states, “Advocates and policymakers must acknowledge and address the well-documented patterns of racial discrimination in housing and land use policies — at all levels of government — that still impact the makeup and opportunities of our communities.” We will work to effectively address and respond to these urgent needs.
• Our recently launched +You thought leadership series will seek to inform and educate our audiences on significant and pressing issues in housing today — health, the impacts of COVID-19 on low-income families and particularly in communities of color, the role of redlining and racial inequality in housing disparities, and more.
• On Friday, June 19, Habitat for Humanity International will mark Juneteenth — the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States — with a Day of Reflection, Action and Solidarity. Our staff members are encouraged to use this day in a way that is most meaningful to them. Going forward, we will observe Juneteenth annually.

Every day and from now on, I and the leaders of our ministry commit to creating an environment where humility, open communication, dialogue and listening become our standard. In addition to being a space where people of all races, all faiths and all backgrounds can come together in common cause, we commit to being actively anti-racist and to affirming, through word and action, that Black Lives Matter and that our communities and systems must further this fundamental truth. We will ensure that our work is infused with courage and accountability so that we make our strong commitment to equity and true community a reality.

I promise to hold myself accountable for leading this organization to a better embodiment of these principles, and I seek your prayers, patience, support and help.

As we take up this work, we are reflecting on the list below, endorsed by the leaders of our Black Employee Success Team employee resource group. We offer it to you for your consideration as well.

Take action

• Seek out and listen to local Black-led organizations and leadership. Know your history.
• Commit to naming, understanding and uprooting all forms of racism and white supremacy.
• Be actively anti-racist in every facet of your life.
• Support the Black Lives Matter movement and organizations on the front lines.
• Advocate for racial equity and social justice reform.
• Register to vote and VOTE!
• Complete the census.
• Research and learn about Juneteenth.
• Pray.

Read

• The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein
• NPR: “The Color of Law” Details How Housing Policies Created Segregation
• Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
• White Rage: The Unspoken Truth of Our Racial Divide, by Carol Anderson
• Between the World and Me, by Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Understanding White Privilege: Creating Pathways to Authentic Relationships Across Race, by Frances Kendall
• How to Be an Anti-Racist, by Ibram X. Kendi
• Stamped, by Ibram X. Kendi and Jason Reynolds
• So You Want to Talk About Race, by Ijeoma Oluo
• Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?, by Beverly Daniel Tatum
• White Like Me: Reflections on Race From a Privileged Son, by Tim Wise
• The Atlantic: The Case for Reparations
• The Marshall Project: Bryan Stevenson on Charleston and Our Real Problem With Race
• The New York Times: Turning the call for racial reckonings back on the U.S.

Watch

• Segregated by Design, narrated by Richard Rothstein
• We Need to Talk About an Injustice: TED Talk by Bryan Stevenson
• The Urgency of Intersectionality: TED Talk by Kimberle Crenshaw
• PBS: Slavery by Another Name
• Movies
  • Just Mercy
  • 13th
  • Selma
  • When They See Us
  • Marshall

We first launched Cost of Home, Habitat for Humanity’s first U.S. advocacy campaign in June 2019.

The world has changed since then; the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout are still unfolding. The number of families struggling to make ends meet continues to grow.

Cost of Home has been a critical component of our response to the pandemic and will continue to play a key role in recovery. Habitat is refocusing and expanding its advocacy efforts, through Cost of Home, to address the housing affordability challenges that have been further revealed and exacerbated as a result of COVID-19.

Even further, the killing of George Floyd and protests in response have highlighted the ongoing impacts of systemic racism, which have been a reality for black communities for centuries. Guiding the policy work of the campaign, the Cost of Home Policy Platform states, “Advocates and policymakers must acknowledge and address the well-documented historic patterns of racial discrimination in housing and land use policies — at all levels of government — that still impact the makeup and opportunities of our communities.”  Moving forward, we must recommit ourselves to taking bold actions to ensure racial equity. Our collective advocacy through the Cost of Home campaign gives us a solid platform and a critical tool for us as we move forward.

Habitat’s strategic plan calls on us to build sector impact through policies and systems that advance access to adequate, affordable housing. Working locally, Habitat affiliates across the nation see firsthand that a stable, affordable home is out of reach for far too many. Even before the pandemic, more than 38 million U.S. families were spending too much on their housing. We know we can’t meet the need through building homes alone. That’s why it’s imperative that we address the underlying policies and systems that hinder access to housing.

We built a five-year campaign to mobilize local Habitat organizations, partners, volunteers and community members across the country to find solutions and help create policies that will allow 10 million individuals to have access to affordable homes. In just one year, more than 300 Habitat organizations from 45 states and Washington, D.C., are working in partnership with local communities, coalitions and policymakers to influence policies to improve home affordability. Already, significant progress has been made — from improving the supply and preservation of affordable homes in Buncombe County, North Carolina, to optimizing land use for affordable homes in Austin, Texas, to increasing access to credit in Oregon to expanding access to and developing communities of opportunity in Omaha, Nebraska.

Looking ahead, we know the impacts of COVID-19 will be felt most by those who can afford it the least. We know the disparate impact the pandemic will have on communities of color, communities already suffering as a result of systemic racism that has all too often played out in housing policy. We know we need to make home affordability a priority in this year’s elections. We know we must continue to advocate to policymakers at all levels of government to ensure that every family — no matter who they are, where they live or how much money they earn — can build the foundation for a stable, healthy future for themselves and their families.

Now more than ever, we must work together to make the cost of home something we all can afford.