Opportunity Starts at Home Campaign and the National Alliance to End Homelessness Host Congressional Briefing on Work and Homelessness in America

The Opportunity Starts at Home (OSAH) campaign and Steering Committee member National Alliance to End Homelessness hosted a virtual congressional briefing on April 2 to discuss the affordable housing crisis impacting people across the country. The briefing featured remarks from Brian Goldstone, author of There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America, a powerful book highlighting the challenges of rising rental costs and stagnant wages for working families. The briefing also featured a discussion on insights and solutions to address this urgent crisis and concluded with a call to action to urge members of Congress to protect HUD staff and funding from proposed cuts, support the highest level of funding possible for FY26, and support the OSAH campaign’s Bipartisan Housing Policy Package.  

Briefing speakers included:  

• Opening Remarks, Chantelle Wilkinson, OSAH Campaign Director 

• Moderator, Julie Walker, OSAH Campaign Coordinator 

• Brian Goldstone, author, There is No Place for Us: Working and Homeless in America 

• Steve Berg, Chief Policy Officer, National Alliance to End Homelessness 

Chantelle Wilkinson opened the briefing with an overview of the affordable housing crisis and its impact on wage earners. Across the country, millions of wage earners struggle to afford stable housing for their families. More than 50% of wage earners cannot afford a modest one-bedroom rental home at Fair Market Rent (FMR) while working one full-time job, and over 60% of wage earners cannot afford a modest two-bedroom rental home while working one full-time job. Brian Goldstone provided remarks on the realities of families working full-time jobs while experiencing homelessness and the significant prevalence of this experience due to the national shortage of affordable housing and the disparity between rising rental costs and stagnant wages. Julie Walker then moderated a discussion between Brian and Steve Berg, who each shared insights on common misunderstandings about people experiencing homelessness and ways to challenge these misconceptions, the structural changes needed to address the rising rate of homelessness, the potential impacts of proposed cuts to key housing and homelessness programs on communities, and steps policymakers can take to ensure long-term solutions. Julie closed the briefing by encouraging attendees to bring what they learned about homelessness back to their colleagues to help dispel harmful misinformation and to influence housing policy in ways that can most effectively support those experiencing housing instability and homelessness.