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Awareness Wednesday :: Black History Month — Not-So-Fair Housing
Homeownership is the main way most American families build wealth. As they pay off a mortgage and appreciation builds equity, family wealth is increased. With this wealth, homeowners send their children to college, take care of aging parents, and have the means to take care of themselves when they are elderly. Any equity left over is passed on to their children. According to the 2016 US Census Bureau data, 72% of white people own their homes but only 42% of African-American people own their homes. This gap is the result of issues created when the U.S. government mandated segregation in housing beginning in 1933. Soon after the end of the…
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Awareness Wednesday :: Homelessness — Helping Our Communities Think Beyond Soup Kitchens
I appreciate Amanda’s post last week for an intimate/anecdotal view on homelessness. Her story provides information that could help improve services. Today, I want to shed light on homelessness from a different vantage point. I will highlight why the current efforts involving taxpayer-funded homelessness programs aren’t working that well, and what we can do to help. The Continuum of Care program I’m a young professional who worked for three years at United Way of Utah County as the Mountainland Continuum of Care co-planner. The Continuum of Care is a federal program under HUD that aims to end homelessness, and there are several in every state. It was my job to…
