Housing

There are questions you think twice about when you don't have the answers.

Where will we go for a roof when it rains?
How long until the heat gets shut off this time?
If we pay rent this month, how will we buy groceries?
If I get another job to make ends meet, who’s going to watch the kids?
Will we ever have a home that’s not unsafe or dangerous?
Will I ever stay somewhere long enough to feel like I have a place?

Imagine having to come up with answers for these questions. Imagine having to answer even one.

A lack of affordable housing is twisting knots in the stomachs of millions worldwide. Life in substandard housing is a major concern for millions more. These are parents, grandparents, brothers, sons, sisters, daughters who don't have a place to go. Because of something as simple as housing, often their health and safety is threatened, their ability to succeed is impaired, their self-worth is worn out. They're looking for the stability that comes from having somewhere to settle in, looking for the hope that is "home".

Action steps in local and global housing are interconnected with other issues, including poverty, health, and education, as well as displacement and re-building after conflict or disaster. We'll begin in the summer of 2008 to wrestle with these issues in an effort to discover our place of response—come fall, be expecting specific opportunities to engage this initiative as a way of serving in the world.

Our efforts with housing are currently taking place in:
West Michigan [Building + welcoming]