What Is Affordable Housing Anyway?

Over Thanksgiving dinner, seated at the "kids table" (aka, the table for those of us without kids) I heard my mom way over at the "adult table" mention my Bike & Build trip. Of course my ears perked up! As I eavesdropped (What's a little eavesdropping among family?), I was disappointed. Of all the people I've talked to about this trip, my mom has been the least excited. I get it, it's scary to see your baby do something like this. She's my mom, she worries. As she told my family about (what I consider to be next big adventure) she sounded flippant, dismissive. I thought, "I'm about to do something super cool AND actually important! How come she acts as if I just dyed my hair green and am going through some sort of phase?" 

I've thought about this quite a bit in the last few weeks. When it dawned on me, it was my turn to be disappointed with myself. In addition to fundraising and biking, I am responsible for educating those around me on the state of affordable housing in this country. The reason my mom acted as if this trip wasn't that important is because she didn't understand that it IS important. So, let's talk about it.

The point of this whole endeavor is to raise money, awareness, and support for affordable housing, but what is affordable housing? Affordable housing is housing that is affordable. Sounds simple and obvious, but this is the aspect of my trip that seems the most difficult to explain.

Officially, housing is deemed affordable IFF ("if and only if" Anyone remember this from high school?) rent/mortgage plus the cost of essential utilities (heat, water, electricity) add up to no more than 30% of a person's income. This is not yet even taking into consideration of that housing is clean or safe! (Because affordable housing also means that this is a place in which you want to live, a place that will provide physical and emotional shelter.)

Fun fact: In 2012, 40.9 million Americans were paying more than 30% of their income on housing (living in unaffordable housing).

What happens then? These people are still in homes, right? Sure, they have a roof over their heads that they struggle to pay for. That means money not going into healthcare for the family. That means money not going towards food. That means money not going towards daycare or education or cello lessons or sports teams or new clothes. That means scrimping on all of the frivolities and actual necessities that I, personally, have taken for granted most of my life.

This trip is about that, about giving people the opportunity to take better care of themselves and their families. It's not about all the wonderful opportunities I'll have this summer. It's just not about me.