In The News

As the weather starts to cool and the season changes to fall, we are very aware that the challenges that 2020 have presented will impact people with low incomes at a far greater rate than other populations. Looking forward to National Hunger & Homelessness Awareness Week (November 15-22, 2020), we present the following 7 facts

It sounds unreal, farfetched, or even crazy — ‘poverty is illegal’ — but it’s happening and has been for far too long in our country. When you look at the frequency people are incarcerated because they can’t pay fees for speeding tickets and other small infractions, it’s heartbreaking. There are 2.2 million people locked up

By James Alexander, President, Mercy Housing Southeast Unstable, insecure, frightened are words I have heard often over the past months from family and friends. It feels we are one bad headline, week, or month, away from losing our health, job, housing, savings, or the ability to protect the ones we love. And it seems there

You just got off a 12-hour shift and want to get home to see your children. Payday isn’t for another week, so going to the grocery store has to wait. You get home tired, but you muster enough energy to help your kids with their homework. Then it’s time for dinner but all you have

Dr. Joshua Bamberger, who specializes in treating people who are homeless, writes about the most common chronic health problems he sees in his patients, and how they need housing in order to manage their conditions.

The Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) provision of the 1968 federal Fair Housing Act helped fight systemic racism in housing segregation and discrimination for people of color and especially those earning low incomes. It is part and parcel of the fight for civil rights that seeks to repair the decades of discriminatory practices and racial

Fishing is about fun, family, and feeling like you belong. Last year, Mercy Housing’s Fishing for Hip Hop event helped resident families explore a lake in Denver to do just that, feel welcome throughout their community. They learned to fish, received free rods and reels, and got to know a natural area that they hadn’t

Converting older, deteriorating motels into housing for the homeless can be a gamble with limited wins. However, with sound planning and strategic implementation, easing California’s long-term homelessness crisis using similar strategies is doable, especially now, in light of recently approved state funding to help tackle the issue. This April, Governor Gavin Newsom unveiled Project Roomkey,

Mercy Housing provides quality, evidence-based Out of School Time (OST) programming for hundreds of youth in California communities. The goal of OST is to supplement young residents’ educational and social-emotional learning to help them lay a strong foundation for academic and life success. While originally attended primarily by K-5th grade residents, these programs have expanded

The coronavirus pandemic has drastically changed the structure of classroom-based learning. With California’s shelter-in-place ordinances and school closures statewide, many students are missing out on vital social aspects of school that help to promote learning and the development of healthy social bonds. Families are experiencing what has been coined ‘COVID slide,’ a 30% or greater