Proposed CSAI: Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

General Assembly 2025 GA Business
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Congregations sponsoring: UU United Fellowship, Saint Petersburg, Florida; UUs of Clearwater, Clearwater, Florida; One Island Family, Key West, Florida; UU Fellowship of Charlotte County, Port Charlotte, Florida; UU Congregation of Greater Naples, Naples, Florida; UU Church of Tampa, Tampa, Florida; UU Church of Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Florida

Issue

Access to housing that is safe, affordable, and sustainable will reduce suffering and save lives. Millions of people seek adequate shelter in the United States. Federal support for housing assistance is being reduced. In response, communities can help each other in organizing for housing justice.

The Need

Come home to justice. Build multiracial and multicultural solidarity. Welcome people with different abilities and in different age groups. Combine advocacy, direct service, and mutual aid in a housing justice movement that raises questions about accountability and empowerment and that can be spiritually transformative.

Grounding in Unitarian Universalism

Love is at the center of our Association’s statement of values. All of the values are woven together. The member congregations of the Unitarian Universalist Association covenant to help each other. Article Two in the Association’s Bylaws and Rules explains the Association’s purpose.

Topics for Congregation Study

Why is housing important for spiritual, mental, emotional, and physical health? Different religious and cultural traditions can provide insights. Review public health research about health and housing in the United States.

Discuss the history of community life and housing in the area where you live. In some areas, indigenous peoples were forcibly removed from their homelands by imperialists. Sacred places were destroyed. African-Americans have known redlining, race-restrictive covenants, and other problems when seeking shelter. Families have been pushed into flood plains and other dangerous area with little protection. Housing disparities have often produced health and wealth disparities.

How do people overcome the different forms of oppression to secure housing justice? Local historians can provide information. Unitarian Universalists can rediscover their religious history. The Radical Reformation gave birth to radical groups in Europe that demanded land reform. During the 1840s, congregations helped abolitionists and the Underground Railroad. A century later, the Unitarian Service Committee provided safe houses and rescue operations for people persecuted by fascists. Liberation theology developed in different places and in different forms during and after the 1960s.

In the months ahead, congregation leaders will meet many people who ask for shelter. The list will include young adults and senior citizens, people with disabilities, homeless (unhoused) people, undocumented migrants, and LGBTQI plus people who face discrimination in housing and emergency services.

Religious discussions about shelter and sanctuary can bring congregations to an understanding of human dignity, human rights, and civil rights. Martin Luther King spoke about the need for a moral revolution. The need continues.

Possible Congregational and Regional Actions

Congregations can join with other community organizations to create a grassroots Housing Justice Taskforce in their area. Volunteers can observe eviction courts. They can become advocates for tenant union organizing, safe and energy efficient housing, rental assistance, and assistance with utility payments. Grassroots groups working for housing justice should understand state and local laws and they should know how to connect to the legal services agencies that help low-income people.

A Housing Justice Taskforce can work with resistance and resilience centers. Pay attention to local needs and plan for the different seasons. Resistance and resilience centers can offer shelter and community meals. Health and social services can be provided. Community gardening and home food production can be encouraged. Parking spaces can be set aside for van dwellers and other nomads. Lifelong learning, community celebrations, advocacy, and mutual aid arrangements are important. Artist activists can be helpful in this good work.

Interfaith coalitions that work for affordable housing included Faith in Action, the DART network, the Gamaliel Foundation affiliates, the Industrial Areas Foundation affiliates, and independent networks. Interfaith coalitions often work with homeless (unhoused people) and with people who ask for sanctuary.

Examples: Congregations close to the Gulf of Mexico work with each other and with interfaith alliances to provide direct services, to encourage advocacy and mutual aid, and to develop an ethic of care before, during, and after community disasters. Activists support the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program and FEMA and SNAP and Medicaid. New ministries are developing that create cooperation in an endangered environment. Nobody is left behind.

Related Prior Social Witness Statements

Social witness statements for the Unitarian Universalist Association often connect to housing needs. What follows is a partial list for the past fifteen years. A longer list is available from the Mutual Aid Collaborative.

  • Embracing Transgender, Nonbinary, Intersex, and Gender Diverse People is a Fundamental Expression of UU Religious Values (2024 Business Resolution)
  • World on Fire: Humanitarian Work and Climate Change (2024 Action of Immediate Witness)
  • Organizing for Health Equity (2023 Action of Immediate Witness)
  • Anti-Racism and Reparations via Restorative Justice (2022 Action of Immediate Witness)
  • Escalating Economic Inequity (2017 Statement of Conscience)
  • Immigration as a Moral Issue (2013 Statement of Conscience)

Unitarian Universalist and/or Other Organizations Addressing this Issue

Many Unitarian Universalist organizations are involved with housing justice concerns. Side with Love supports a national public advocacy campaign for the Unitarian Universalist Association. State action networks (SANs) are often prominent in housing justice work. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee works with the UU college of Social Justice and other organizations. The UU Trauma Response Ministry provides spiritual care in response to mass disasters. The Welcoming Congregation program, the EqUUal Access program, and the Green Sanctuary 2030 program are some of the resources that help congregations in identifying best practices for resistance and resilience centers.

The Urban League, the NAACP, Interfaith Power and Light, the AARP, Disability Rights California, Action for Boston Community Development, and the Health and Human Rights Clinic at the Robert McKinney School of Law at Indiana University in Indianapolis are among the many organizations active in housing justice work. A partial list of housing justice allies is available from the Mutual Aid Collaborative.murphydalzell@aol.com

Books

  • Lessons From Eviction Court: How We Fix Our Housing Crisis by Fran Quigley
  • Evicted by Matthew Desmond
  • Under the Skin by Linda Villarosa
  • The Essential James Luther Adams edited by James K. Beach
  • Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During this Crisis (and the Next) by Dean Spade

Movies

  • Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution
  • Cooked: Survival by Zip Code
  • Lead Me Home (Netflix documentary)
  • Renter Revolt: Housing and Human Rights in America’s Heartland
  • The Florida Project
  • Nomadland

Endorsements

Unitarian Universalist Class Conversations. The Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community. EqUUal Access. The Sunshine Cluster and the West Central Cluster in Florida.

Recording of feedback session

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This CSAI correctly identifies the lack of affordable housing as major national problem in the United States.
However this affordability crisis plays out in different ways in different localities across the US and is far more widespread than the DEI label would suggest. For example, households may struggle with debt, disability, addictions, and other issues that extend far beyond DEI categories.
In addition the deeper problems come from housing policies, from local to national, that subsidize the more affluent or upwardly mobile through zoning, taxes, interest rates, and the like, combined with a shortage of subsidies for low income households.
Nevertheless, churches could take this CSAI as a spring board for more broad-based and in depth education and advocacy that is appropriate for their communities.

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The housing justice CSAI is unusual for several reasons… It calls for immediate and effective action in congregations (and in other grassroots groups) in response to “the new nastiness” in American culture and politics. The CSAI calls for a combination of advocacy, direct service, and mutual aid supported by Unitarian Universalist values. Universalists and Unitarians have been in similar situations in the past. During the 1840s, some congregations supported the Underground Railroad. During the 1940s, the Unitarian Service Committee responded to fascism in Europe by creating safe houses and rescue operations. The housing justice CSAI mentions the need to shelter undocumented migrants, to care for climate change refugees, to help homeless (unhoused) people, and to work with other groups that are abused or often ignored. There’s a improve the connections between congregation projects and national UUA resources.

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CORRECTION: Last sentence should say, “There’s a need to improve the connections between congregation projects and national UUA resources.” REASON Many Unitarian Universalists are active in different projects for sanctuary and shelter. Bring different groups together to share information about resources and best practices.

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Although I support Abolition and Fat liberation, I think that Housing is the most actionable issue and the one that can make a difference. In Central Iowa, our community is organizing to tackle the shortage of affordable housing, so exchanging ideas and finding the best ways to approach housing will have on the ground impact.

I like that this issue views the housing issue through the moral lens of Unitarian Universalism. About the only program the Federal Government has right now is to support private developers, but it’s so poorly done that instead of creating affordable housing, the goverment is subsidizing luxury units.

We need to get organized and make things happen–for the wealthiest nation to have people living in tents, on the street and in their cars is a sin.

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I agree about the purportedly unintended consequences of the subsidies and mandates (though, knowing how important real-estate development is to building government pyramids, I have moments of not being sure about actual intentions of many politicians—e.g., when I objected to a development (farmland > supermarket, shops, and nearby affordable housing [something like 8 apartments]) in a local town, the mayor in a private e-mail discussion clearly stated that potential approval of the variance was not about expanding ratables. However, at the subsequent council meeting, his first slide was about the increase in ratables from the development.)

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There will be an exhibit for the housing justice CSAI at the General Assembly on Wednesday night, June 18th. The exhibit will be in the exhibit hall. Starts at 7:00 pm and continues until 8:30. Come to the exhibit to learn more about Unitarian Universalist work for housing justice. Emphasis on diversity, equity, and inclusion. If your congregation or national network is involved with housing justice and other DEI concerns, please bring information to share. One of the goals for this CSAI is to bring different groups together to share resources. The Commission on Social Witness has information about all of the CSAI exhibits.

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The Mutual Aid Meet-Up for Unitarian Universalists is scheduled for Thursday morning, June 19th, at Room 318 at the convention center. The gathering starts at 10:30 am. It will be an informal meeting for all Unitarian Universalists who are interested in mutual aid work. Housing justice, food justice, and emergency services are especially important. We’ll have some last-minute information about the housing justice CSAI.

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Yes, we encourage people who want to know more about this CSAI to attend their information session! Look for similar information on workshops or info sessions related to the other CSAIs and AIWs. I’m sure there are some that have been developed on some of these important justice areas!

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Thank you! Everybody is invited to the Mutual Aid Meet-Up on Thursday morning, June 19th. It will be an informal gathering for folks who are interested in mutual aid work for housing. Information about mutual aid work for transportation, education, food assistance, family care, and other areas of concerns will also be presented.

We’ll discuss mutual aid as a spiritual practice at the Mutual Aid Meet-Up. For some Unitarian Universalists, the mutual aid conversation is new. For some, it’s an old tradition that’s being rediscovered by congregations.

Juneteenth (June 19) is an appropriate day for a discussion about mutual aid and spiritual transformation. The historic African-American churches are often identified with mutual aid thinking and practice. Bring whatever literature you want to share. (The Quakers have mutual aid literature that’s being used by some of the UUSC people. Books by Dean Spade and Rebecca Solnit are helpful. Indigenous people have encouraged mutual aid for many centuries.)

clandrumcsw Rev. Dr. Cynthia Landrum, Commission on Social Witness
June 12

Murphy:

The Mutual Aid Meet-Up for Unitarian Universalists is scheduled for Thursday morning, June 19th, at Room 318 at the convention center. The gathering starts at 10:30 am.

Yes, we encourage people who want to know more about this CSAI to attend their information session! Look for similar information on workshops or info sessions related to the other CSAIs and AIWs. I’m sure there are some that have been developed on some of these important justice areas!

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The Commission on Social Witness will be in booth #413 in the GA Exhibit Hall. Each of the AIW and CSAI proposals has a time slot that they will be present at the booth so answer questions and tell you about their proposal. Here is the current schedule (subject to change!):

AIWs:
Bringing a Feminist and Womanist Lens to Resistance and
Activism- Friday, June 20 at 11:00 a.m.

Defending LGBTIQ Freedom Amid Funding Crisis: A Call for Global Solidarity
Saturday, June 21 at 11:00 a.m.

Faithful Defiance of Authoritarianism: Reaffirming Our Covenants for Democracy and Freedom- Friday, June 20 at noon

Voter Justice, Racial Equity, and Local Autonomy = DC Home Rule and Statehood for the Citizens of the Nation’s Capital- Friday, June 20 at 10 a.m.

We Declare and Affirm: Immigrants Are People Who Have Inherent Worth and Inalienable Rights- Friday, June 20 at 4:00 p.m.

CSAIs:
Abolition, Transformation, and Faith Formation - Thursday, June 19 at 9:30 a.m.
Fat Liberation: Building Justice and Inclusion for Larger Bodies- Thursday, June 19 at 11:00 a.m.
Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion- Wednesday, June 18 at 7 p.m.