When I was young, affordable housing was not a policy discussion to me. It was life.
Like many families, we experienced times when housing costs, economic uncertainty, and the challenges of simply getting by created stress and difficult choices. Those experiences shaped how I view housing today. They taught me that housing is not simply about buildings, financing, or government programs. Housing is about opportunity.
Over the past four decades, I have had the privilege of helping create thousands of housing units for families, seniors, veterans, and individuals with special needs. During that time, I have watched public attitudes toward affordable housing evolve dramatically.
In the early years, one of the greatest challenges was convincing communities that affordable housing belonged in their neighborhoods. Many people viewed affordable housing as something that should exist somewhere else. Residents often opposed developments because they feared changes to their community, their property values, or their quality of life.
Today, many of those same communities recognize that housing affordability has become one of the defining challenges of our generation.
Young families struggle to purchase their first home. Teachers, nurses, police officers, and service workers often cannot afford to live in the communities they serve. Seniors who spent a lifetime working and contributing to society increasingly worry about whether they can afford to remain in their homes during retirement.
At the same time, homelessness has become a visible challenge in cities and neighborhoods across America.
Unfortunately, much of the public attention toward housing today is driven by concern over homelessness. While that concern is understandable, it is important to remember that homelessness is often the result of broader housing shortages and affordability challenges. If we fail to create enough housing opportunities at every level, the consequences eventually affect entire communities.
The reality is that housing needs will never disappear.
The specific challenges may change. Economic conditions may change. Political priorities may change. New generations may focus on different issues. Yet the need for safe, stable, attainable housing will always remain.
Government at every level – local, state, and federal – must continue searching for new tools, new partnerships, and new ideas. The programs that worked 20 years ago may not be enough 20 years from now. We must constantly challenge ourselves to think differently and to adapt.
Throughout my career, I have seen firsthand how innovation can make a difference. Tax credits have helped finance affordable housing. Public-private partnerships have leveraged private capital for public benefit. Housing authorities, nonprofit organizations, faith communities, and private developers have worked together to create solutions that none could have achieved alone.
More recently, Opportunity Zones have created another valuable tool. By encouraging investment in designated communities that need economic growth, Opportunity Zones can attract private capital to areas that have historically struggled to secure investment. While no single program is a complete solution, initiatives like these demonstrate what can happen when government creates incentives that encourage innovation and investment.
We need more of that thinking.
We need policies that encourage workforce housing for the teachers, nurses, first responders, and working families who form the backbone of our communities. We need housing that allows young people entering the workforce to build stable futures. We need housing that allows seniors to retire with dignity. And we need housing strategies that address homelessness not only through services and support, but by increasing the supply of housing itself.
Most importantly, we need leaders willing to take thoughtful risks.
That belief is one of the reasons National CORE, the nonprofit I helped found more than 30 years ago, is sponsoring the first-ever Housing Attainability Summit at the Ontario Convention Center on July 31. This event will bring together leaders across all aspects of affordable housing – legislators, builders, housing authorities, and nonprofit leaders. The conversations will focus on solutions, not the barriers, and on how we can work together to expand housing opportunities while strengthening our communities.
Join us. Because in the end, housing is not simply shelter. Housing is opportunity. And opportunity is something every generation deserves.
Jeff Burum is a longtime Inland Empire resident and founder and chairman of National CORE, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit affordable housing organizations, and co-founder of the Hope through Housing Foundation.
