Though this barbed wire fence surrounds a field in Cambodia where children play—and not a prison as one might infer from the photograph—poverty holds millions of people captive by limiting hope, opportunity and possibilities.

A World in Need of Housing, Hope and Help
(continued)

This work requires volunteers, to be sure. It takes materials: boxes of nails and bags of cement; it takes lumber, paint, rebar, shingles, windows, doors and so much else. And it takes money.

"One should never undervalue the contributions of volunteer labor, of hammering a nail or serving on an affiliate committee; making sandwiches for on-site lunches or monitoring the first-aid tent when temperatures soar above 90," says Fuller. "None of that would be possible, however, without financial contributions to pave the way for more and more building. In his essay Considerations by the Way, Ralph Waldo Emerson said to 'make yourself necessary to somebody.' Well, each time someone gives of his or her time or writes a check or offers support in any other way, they are making themselves necessary to a family confined by poverty housing."

These families' needs are daunting. The United Nations estimates that 1.3 billion people in urban areas lack adequate shelter. In rural areas, the problem is even worse as 2.6 billion people endure inadequate housing, including shelter that forces families to pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing.

While families in rural areas may not experience the same housing density as their counterparts in urban centers, they often find themselves living in remote locations where access to water, sanitation, education, health care and other necessities--including decent housing--is limited at best and nonexistent at worst. As a result, some 180,000 people are migrating to the world's cities each day, seeking jobs, services and a better quality of life, according to the United Nations' "Urban Millennium Report."

As they arrive in increasing numbers, competition for jobs grows intense, and urban housing authorities--especially those in developing countries--buckle trying to accommodate the housing needs of so many so quickly. The result: massive slums with extreme poverty. According to the United Nations, in developing nations slum dwellers account for 43 percent of the population, contrasted with about 6 percent in more developed regions.

In a foreword to a UN report called "The Challenge of Slums," UN Secretary General Kofi Annan speaks of this "urbanization of poverty," estimating that "if no serious action is taken, the number of slum dwellers worldwide is projected to rise over the next 30 years to about 2 billion." It is not a problem that can be ignored; according to the United Nations' "State of the World's Cities" report, "...The new urban slums are potential breeding places for social and political unrest."

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, one of the largest cities in the world, faces urbanization challenges as many of its citizens lack adequate shelter, sanitation systems and clean water.

The need for improved living conditions and better housing, of course, doesn't limit itself to developing parts of the world.

In the United States, one of the richest countries on the planet, some 33 million people--including 12 million children--live in poverty conditions, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

As housing costs soar and numbers of affordable housing units fall, more and more American families are finding it difficult, if not impossible, to secure decent housing. In fact, there is no county in the United States where a minimum-wage worker can afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent. Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies estimates that more than 14 million U.S. households pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development states that some 5.3 million American families spend more than 50 percent of their income for housing and earn less than 50 percent of the area median income. This, according to HUD, constitutes "worst-case housing needs."

Lacking options and with their "hope reserves" low, families turn to housing assistance programs, such as public housing and Section 8 vouchers, for help--but that help is too often a distant possibility, requiring families in larger cities to wait as long as a decade.

There are solutions, says Anna Kajumulo Tibaijuka, executive director for UN Habitat, which is a United Nations agency aiming to promote socially and environmentally sustainable communities by providing adequate shelter for all.

"Poverty elimination starts with listening to the poor, fostering their initiatives and giving them a chance," Tibaijuka says. "The welfare of over a billion people who are homeless or live without adequate shelter and basic services depends on the combined efforts of all our partners, governments, local authorities, parliamentarians, nongovernmental organizations and the private sector."

So it is with Habitat for Humanity. Everyone is needed in order to address the world's housing need appropriately: volunteers, staff, homeowners ... and donors. One must look no further than his own community to find the need. And when he finds the need, he'll find Habitat--and its supporters--there confronting it.