There is something incredibly haunting about the phrase “the rent eats first.” Coined by Matthew Desmond in his book “Evicted: Poverty and Profit in an American City,” these words capture the reality of the Sisyphean cost burden of the average American worker whose wages simply cannot sustain adequate housing. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, cost burden is the term used to describe the spending of more than 30% of one’s income on rent, mortgage payments and other housing costs.
The phrase also speaks poignantly to the disturbing realities of the struggle to obtain quality, affordable housing in the U.S. Affordable housing is one of the most significant key justice issues of our time. Based on a recent Pew Center Research study survey on affordable housing, 69% of Americans said they were “very concerned” about the cost of housing; this was up from 61% in April 2023.
Lack of affordable housing and the commodification of housing are also intimately linked to a variety of intersectional poverty issues. The rising costs of housing in the U.S. are directly connected to community displacement and disproportionately impact low-income, minority, elderly and disabled communities. Lack of affordable housing also shares connective tissue with overall economic instability, stress, health access and educational inequities. As I continue to think about mission and how our faith can be relevant in addressing these issues, the apodictic words of the prophet Isaiah (58:6–7) quickly come to mind:
Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
The work of two Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of People (SDOP) funded community partners — City Roots Community Land Trust in Rochester, New York, and Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee (SHOC) in Sacramento, California — embody the heart of the passage’s directive to “break the yokes’’ of oppression. Both lift up God’s imperative work of dismantling systemic oppression by seeking community participation, justice and wholeness for all in our communities.
City Roots Community Land Trust does this through the provision of affordable homeownership opportunities for income-qualifying buyers who earn less than 50% of the area’s median income. City Roots also engages in the rehabilitation of vacant houses to be resold at affordable prices to income-qualifying buyers who agree to a “pay it forward” approach to homeownership. This ensures the permanent affordability of the property to help to avoid gentrification.
SHOC addresses a myriad of intersectional issues of affordable housing and homelessness through their mission of amplifying the voice of the unhoused and low-income communities to accomplish economic and social justice. With programs such as the Homeward Street Journal and the Homeless Leadership Development Program, SHOC trains and equips unhoused individuals to be advocates in amplifying their voices for social and political change. The program provides resources that educate the public on intersectional issues of poverty and affordable housing.
It is important for us as Presbyterians to understand that mission means doing justice and addressing systemic poverty by also being “very concerned” about this issue. Our concern should lead us to engage in dismantling systemic poverty and support PC(USA) ministries and programs that are significantly addressing the issue of affordable housing. Proclaiming justice, cultivating economic witness and eradicating systemic poverty is who we are called to be as God’s people. In our Book of Confessions, which is part one of our PC(USA) constitution, the Confession of 1967 reminds us of this calling:
“The church is called to bring all people to receive and uphold one another as persons in all relationships of life: in employment, housing, education, leisure, marriage, family, church, and the exercise of political rights.” (9.44)
For more information:
City Roots Community Land Trust
Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee
For more information about SDOP, Affordable Housing and eradicating poverty work in the PC(USA):
Presbyterian Committee on the Self-Development of People
PC(USA) Affordable Housing Inventory
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Film
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance Resource Guide for “Evicting the American Dream”
Stay tuned; a film study on “Evicting the American Dream” is underway and slated for February 2026.
PC(USA) poverty page (which includes several helpful resources)
Advocacy through the Presbyterian Office of Public Witness
PC(USA) Advisory Committee on Social Witness Policy
PC(USA) policy statement on Homelessness
The Rev. Dr. Alonzo Johnson is the manager of the Presbyterian Committee on the Self Development of People. He is also the convener of the Education Roundtable through the Educate a Child initiative in the PC(USA).
Let us join in prayer for:
John Kim, Senior Translator, Global Language Resources, Administrative Services Group
Sam Young Kim, Stewardship Officer – Korean, Stewardship and Major Gift Officer, Administrative Services Group
Let us pray:
Holy God, we confess that we have failed to stand with those crushed by systemic injustice. We value property and profits over the lives of people. Courts and public safety agencies enforce unequal justice. Struggling workers are displaced and pushed into homelessness. Public functions for the common good are privatized and deregulated. The cries of those who grieve are muffled. Victims are asked to forgive and reconcile even before their wounds can begin to heal. In its silence and inaction, the church is complicit in this unrighteousness. In your mercy, Holy God, help us to confess and repent of these sins. Lead us to cry out with the prophets, until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream. Empower us to become repairers of the breach, able to join with the most vulnerable among us in making our communities livable again. In Jesus’ holy name we pray. Amen. (from the Book of Common Worship)
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