Fighting Poverty with Faith, a nationwide, interfaith movement to cut poverty in half by 2020, held a national press event for its fifth annual mobilization, “Building Opportunity through Affordable Housing for All,” on November 15. The mobilization calls on Congress to provide $1 billion to fund the National Housing Trust Fund (see Memo, 10/26).

The event, held at The SeVerna, a 60-unit mixed income affordable housing development in northwest Washington, D.C., included speakers representing faith and advocacy groups as well as one currently homeless individual and one resident of The SeVerna. Rabbi Steve Gutow, President and CEO of the Jewish Council of Public Affairs, which coordinates the faith coalition, opened the event, saying that it would be action from political leaders, not just from charity groups, that would finally end poverty in the United States.

In her remarks, Sheila Crowley, President and CEO of NLIHC, noted that faith groups have long been strong supporters of the National Housing Trust Fund. She said that the nation has the resources to end homelessness; it is a matter of lawmakers committing the funding necessary for that effort to succeed.

Other speakers included Mrs. Yvonne Williams, chair of the board of Bible Way Church, which developed The SeVerna; Rev. Dr. Sharon E. Watkins, President of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada; Dr. Sayeed Sayyid, Islamic Council of North America; and Candy Hill, Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Social Policy at Catholic Charities USA.

The event closed with an interfaith prayer for affordable housing and an end to poverty, which included a call to “Help us to attend to the difference between charity and change; that we may both help to provide shelter and affordable housing, and change the structures that swell the numbers of those living in poverty.”

Click here to access the Fighting Poverty with Faith website, which includes resources for congregations.

Click here to join people of faith in taking action on funding for the National Housing Trust Fund.

The full text of the interfaith prayer is attached.

Click on the following hyperlinks to view new press coverage of the event from The Nation, from the Jewish Daily Forward, and from PBS’s Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.