Tools and Information to Help Your Advocacy Efforts
By Rebekah Graydon
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Millions of families live in housing that is not only structurally unsound, but also overcrowded and the source of physical and budgetary problems. The house pictured here is in San Antonio, Texas, where HFH San Antonio has built more that 250 houses.
—Photo by Joe Matthews
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Poverty housing casts families in a cycle of uncertainty in which parents constantly worry about the comfort of their children. The drive to meet such fundamental needs as sleep and safety diverts children from other pursuits that might stabilize their future, such as education or a stronger identity within their community.
“It’s where the children are ashamed of the house,” says Robin Shell, senior vice president for Program for Habitat for Humanity International. “A substandard house is where the family is always getting sick. It’s where they never know when a government official or landlord might come and sweep away the slums. They’re at the mercy of the rich and powerful.”
While the full measure of poverty housing varies according to family and situation, some common traits of inadequate shelter exist no matter the location or the family.
Inadequate structure: The U.S. Census Bureau defines substandard units as having “severe” physical problems if, among other things, they lack hot or cold piped water, have no electricity and have holes or open cracks in the walls or ceilings. Internationally, the United Nations considers housing uninhabitable if it exposes residents to hazards and disease, lacks adequate space or does not protect families from threats to health.
Overcrowding: For the most part, the definition of crowding depends on local culture; it is not uncommon for large extended families in some countries to share limited space. At some point, however, crowding negatively affects the mental and physical health of the family.
Cost burden: According to Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, 14 million households in the United States pay more than half their incomes for housing or live in severely inadequate units. Such a cost burden in the United States, as well as in other countries, often places housing in competition with other necessities for low- and very-low-income families.
Poor health: Asthma, especially in children, and health issues associated with lead-based paint are significant and costly problems in the United States. Internationally, families in substandard housing suffer from health issues related to precarious construction, rodent- or insect-infested bush materials, damp floors and inadequate ventilation. Also, diseases such as tuberculosis spread quickly through overcrowded conditions.
Emotional drain: Fear of unsafe surroundings and eviction, hopelessness and shame at the stigma attached to living in substandard housing erode self-esteem and a sense of well-being.
Habitat has helped more than 125,000 households work their way out of substandard housing, but millions more remain.
“Can the problem be solved? Without a doubt, yes,” says Shell. “It could be this century, and it will be through programs like Habitat for Humanity where ordinary citizens are empowered to do something practical and encouraged to take responsibility. It is possible to solve the problem, one community at a time.”
—Rebekah Graydon is assistant editor for Habitat World.
