SOLI/Update - May 16, 2005

Push pro-family economic policies

My nine-year-old daughter is crushed because a neighbor friend's family is moving back to Kansas. It's just one minor heartbreak story in the housing boom that is disrupting the lives of millions of working people.

The economic squeeze is simple: While housing prices are cruising along with percentage hikes in the healthy double digits, salaries are nearly stagnant. When the two realities collide, families in the rental market face bleak prospects. Many are stretched way too thin, driven to substandard housing, forced to move out of the area or simply put on the streets.

In the case of "Ashley," who lives a block away in my working-class neighborhood of duplex houses in Gettysburg, Pa., the 3-bedroom unit her family rents is up for sale by the landlord who wants to cash in on the housing boom. The house is on the market for $163,000 -- affordable by many community standards, yes, but still more than double what the unit would have gone for just three years ago.

Ashley's mom stays at home with preschool kids, but her dad works a decent job running computers for a local company. But they don't have the $32,000 cash for a 20 percent down payment, nor the cash flow for the mortgage, taxes and insurance if they did. Faced with a housing market they can no longer afford, Ashley's family is reluctantly moving back to Kansas, where her parents came from and where they can afford to live.

Now this is certainly no hard-luck story: The family is stable, there are no substance abuse issues, the head-of-household has portable and lucrative job skills, they have family contacts in several states, and they have some cash on hand. But the fact that such a family is priced out of even a moderately inexpensive housing market speaks of the enormity of the crisis facing low-wage workers.

These are the new homeless who are ending up on church steps with their children or sleeping in public parks. This week's Gleanings contains a number of stories of churches that are providing help to homeless people. Their efforts are creative and even heroic in many places, but they may be ultimately futile unless at least one of the two underlying realities is faced:

--Wages and benefits have to rise so that people can afford to live.

--Public programs for affordable housing need to increase.

Yes, in the first instance the cost of goods and services for the rest of us will go up, and in the second taxes will rise. But the fact is, something's got to give. Our economy is driving millions of families like Ashley's to despair.

Churches can do a big part by not only helping families in dire straits, but also by speaking truthfully about who are the winners and losers in today's economy, educating their better-off members to see the crisis unfolding in their communities, and reaching out to members of their community facing the big squeeze.

But most of all, churches can advocate for public policies that will help eliminate the structural problems of the housing and homelessness crisis. In a country that is decidedly pro-family, pro-family economics should be tops on the list.

-Rob Blezard, editor and webmaster

Preparing for a major financial campaign
This resource guide for congregations includes a number of checklists for getting ready, getting started, and so on. It also has a sample budget and tip sheets. Lots of nuts-and-bolts information on running a major financial campaign. Click here for the eight-page guide on capital campaigns. From the Stewardship Page of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington (DC), which has lots of other good resources.

Forgive us our money mistakes

"We have all made foolish mistakes with money in our personal lives, and even congregations can make mistakes. I sometimes think it is the foolish mistakes we have made personally and how guilty we have felt about them that colors even the decisions we make for our churches. We cannot let our mistakes paralyze us." Click here for the Rev. Dana Reardon's weekly column on stewardship.

A scriptural call for environmental stewardship
The Bible has a lot to say about care for God's creation -- and as this insightful article points out, we human beings are doing a pretty lousy job fulfilling our duties. Its compiles Scripture passages on a wide range of environmental topics. Click here for the article, posted on the website of the Fund for Christian Ecology, which contains lots of other good stuff.

Essay: Being Kept

Michael C. Rehak of Deerfield Lutheran Church, Deerfield, Wis., explores our giving to God. "It is not about keeping the tithe. It is that tithing will keep you. As you increase your giving and approach giving 7 or 8 or 9 or 10 percent or more a change will occur in your life. A new realization will develop that all that we have ultimately belongs to God." THIS WEEK'S RECYCLING BIN OFFERING.

Increasing income

"The most often requested question that I have had over the years about stewardship is 'How can we increase income?' The answer to that question can take many paths, but to 'cut to the chase, there are three ways to increase income in ANY congregation:" Click here for the answer from Tuck Aaker, columnist for ELCA Stewardship Resources.