Thursday webinar to highlight affordable housing crisis

LOUISVILLE — The affordable housing crisis will be the focus of the next installment of “The Struggle is Real,” a webinar series by the Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People.

The Thursday, Nov. 5, event is the last of three affordability webinars being hosted by SDOP to educate Presbyterians about issues that are making it hard for many people to care for themselves and their families and to keep a roof over their heads. Homelessness also will be discussed.

“Rising housing costs and evictions can force families from long-standing neighborhoods, separating them from schools, jobs, churches and the faith communities that provide prayer, care, meals, transportation and mutual support,” according to SDOP. “These burdens fall most heavily on low-income, minority, elderly and disabled communities. Housing insecurity also creates broader economic and spiritual stress, threatening the stability and dignity of neighbors whom we are called to love and serve.”

SDOP has invited these panelists to explore those topics:

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  Trenise Bryant, co-founder of Struggle for Miami’s Affordable and Sustainable Housing (SMASH), a member-led nonprofit dedicated to creating affordable housing solutions for all Miamians. SMASH is the past recipient of an SDOP grant.

• Will Merrifield, founder and executive director of The Center for Social Housing and Public Investment in Washington, D.C. He studies and promotes sustainable, publicly controlled systems of housing, healthcare and education. 
• Tony Curtis, executive director of the Metropolitan Housing Coalition, which promotes safe and affordable housing in the greater Louisville, Kentucky area. 
• The Rev. Patrick H. O’Connor, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica (New York). He was involved in the development of Tree of Life, a 174-unit affordable housing complex in the Queens community.

Caring for “the least of these,” including those affected by the housing crisis, has long been a hallmark of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and was recently a topic of interest at the Mid Council Leaders Gathering in Louisville, said the Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson, who manages SDOP.

The upcoming webinar will “help congregations engage in these issues and to hear about effective approaches to the dearth of affordable housing nationwide and the plight of our unsheltered siblings in Christ,” Johnson said.

To register for the 1 p.m. Eastern Time webinar, go here.