Proposed CSAI: Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

General Assembly 2025 GA Business
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Elias Poore, M.Div MA NCPRSS

Housing is not just a policy issue—it’s a moral and spiritual imperative. As someone who was unhoused as a young person—sleeping in cars, on couches, in public parks, even once between a shed and a fence to shelter from the snow—I know how dehumanizing and dangerous it can be to live without a safe place to land. Even during seminary, I faced housing insecurity and had to rely on staying with family to get by.

I’ve experienced the barriers that come with being formerly incarcerated and trans, and I’ve spent the last decade organizing alongside others navigating the same struggles. A Unitarian Universalist CSAI on housing justice would name what we already know to be true in our bones: that every person is worthy of safety, stability, and home. Our faith calls us not to charity alone, but to justice—rooted in relationship, repair, and the radical belief that no one is disposable.”

Eli is currently serving as an intern minister for the Southern Oregon UU Partnership, which includes congregations in Ashland, Grants Pass and Klamath Falls, Oregon.

For the past eight years, Eli has been involved in an ongoing street ministry/community development project with communities experiencing poverty and houselessness through a nonprofit organization Eli co-founded.

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After today’s presentation, I walked away feeling like this would make a good AIW but it’s not the best option in my opinion for a CSAI given that we can only pick one.

The primary reason I feel this way is because of the focus on immediate action in terms of advocacy both in the text and in the comments made today. With a CSAI, the focus isn’t intended to be on immediate action. It’s on in-depth study and discernment followed by a proposal to a future GA of an actionable formal position.

I’m not sure there is a really a lot to study in terms of our understanding as UUs of the need for housing justice. I suspect we largely understand and agree about the importance of housing and the need for our local/state/federal government to do better.

I’m supporting the abolition CSAI because I think we aren’t there yet in terms of our understanding of what abolition means in today’s society or what we as UUs could do to move our society towards that end goal. Taking the time to intentionally have those conversations seems like something we would benefit from doing.

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Denise Moorehead, 1st Parish Framingham UU

I am Denise Moorehead, a member of 1st Parish Framingham UU. For more than a decade, I have worked with UU Class Conversations, which I cofounded with the Rev. Dr. Dorothy Emerson and Dr. Betsy Leondar-Wrigth a UU organization raises class awareness, confront classism and promote class inclusion in all UU communities. It is from this vantage point that I encourage you to vote for the Congregational Study Action Issue Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

I recently heard someone talk about a group of roommates on the west coast, young doctors, lawyers and recent MBAs, who are living together because rent in their city tops out at more than $10k/a month. So you can imagine what finding safe, clean, affordable housing is like for everyone else.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is a shortage of more than 7 million affordable homes for our nation’s 10.8 million plus extremely low-income families. Many of these people work multiple low-wage, no benefit jobs. This is leading to homelessness for far too many. And this true for every region in the U.S.

Americans with more class privilege, working class and middle class people, are finding it increasingly difficult to manage rising housing costs as well – unless their class privilege has provided a home passed down. Even then, utilities and taxes can lead to home loss.

As I’m sure you are aware, since January, government support for housing and utility assistance has markedly declined. In response, working class people are organizing tenant unions and community programs to demand housing that is safe, affordable and acceptable. Unitarian Universalist congregations and UUs with our connections, social class backgrounds, and commitment to justice, have the potential to move the needle on this issue after careful study.

UU Class Conversations asks 2025 General Assembly delegates to vote “yes” in support of the housing justice proposal Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

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The UUA has not had a major CSAI (or the equivalent) focused on housing issues for at least thirty years.

For a long list of reasons, a major study with an action plan are needed.

Housing topics that need to be addressed by congregations include sanctuary for undocumented migrants, support for homeless (unhoused) people, climate change and emergency services, disability rights, and support for trans people. Something like the Underground Railroad with safe houses has been suggested.

These topics can’t be easily addressed by an AIW. What’s needed is several years of work with congregations involved. Example: With sanctuary concerns, it’s not clear (for many folks) what congregations can do or what they want to do in order to help undocumented migrants. Some congregations are already active and there are some resources available. A housing justice CSAI can provide opportunities to exchange information about best practices while developing action plans.

A CSAI is supposed to be a congregational study and action issue (CSAI.) Note the emphasis on congregation study and the emphasis on congregation action. An AIW doesn’t encourage congregation study. A CSAI that doesn’t encourage helpful actions is pointless. “There’s just a lot of talk.. It’s frustrating.”

Life in the Americas is becoming very difficult in the Americas because of Trump and Congress,

DEI programs are being destroyed and housing costs are going to new heights. The problem of systemic racism continues. Congregations that want to develop an effective action plan are asked to vote “yes” for the housing justice CSAI. It will do some good for every congregation during some difficult times.

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Thanks for bringing up climate and specifically buy-outs. I was unaware of this issue until I read “The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration” Book by Jake Bittle. I think this would be a good book to consider on this topic too.

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Thanks for the consideration. I do think that there is a lot to consider on housing issues, including in many of our own communities, from zoning policies to gentrification, flooding and insurance/buy-out options, to “housing first” solutions to address multiple issues of poverty. There is also certainly immediate work that can be done. Certainly abolition is an important issue as well.

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Thanks for that recommendation; I will certainly look it up. Maybe UUJEC could hold a book discussion on Zoom if there are enough folks interested.

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Meet the moment! That’s the message in the housing justice CSAI and for this year’s General Assembly and beyond.

Congregations are caught in a difficult era. There’s a need for an effective and appropriate strategy that will do some good.

Celebrate all of the Unitarian Universalist values and move into action.

Authoritarian government is on the rise. General Assembly delegates worry about ICE raids and they see homeless (unhoused) people on the streets of Baltimore.

Millions of people in the Americas need safe, affordable, sustainable, and acceptable housing. Many are being treated like criminals and many are being kicked aside as they search for adequate shelter. The list includes undocumented migrants, trans people, many homeless (unhoused) people, people with disabilities, and others. Many young adults may never be able to purchase homes. Senior citizens worry about the costs of long-term housing and care. And there are some other housing justice topics that need attention in congregations. We’re moving into disaster season and Trump wants to reduce FEMA and the National Weather Service.

Send a letter to Congress? Advocacy is needed but an effective housing justice program requires more than legislative action.

What’s needed in congregations is a new strategy that combines advocacy with direct service and mutual aid. Spiritual and cultural transformation are needed in support of a moral revolution. All of this requires more than an AIW. William Barber says: “We need a movement, not a moment.”

The housing justice CSAI begins with a call for study and analysis in the congregations. It’s important to understand the roots of systemic racism, economic injustice, and other forms of oppression. Study required. And the study needs to move congregations and other community groups towards action for justice.

CSAI proposals often start “at the top” and It’s assumed that the congregation don’t understand the need for justice.

The housing justice CSAI is different. It has started because of grassroots experiences with many Unitarian Universalists involved. The emphasis is on sharing information and resources during the study process. The CSAI recognizes that many congregations are already active with housing justice. There’s a need to bring different groups together.
Start with some listening. Share information. Build new partnerships. Proceed to action that will do some good.

All of this requires a housing justice CSAI that will involve a few years of work in congregations and at the General Assembly.

Vote “yes” for the housing justice CSAI.

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Break Through News reminds us that 40% of people living on the streets and 50% in shelters work. They are part of the alarming new epidemic of full-time workers falling into homelessness due to skyrocketing rents, low wages, natural disasters and weak tenant protections. An illness, accident or bad luck can make everyone, except for those with the most class advantage, susceptible.

Some stats on being unhoused:

The National Healthcare for the Homeless Council tells us that “compared to adults in the general population, a greater percentage of inmates have been previously homeless (5% of the general population versus 15% of the incarcerated population with a history of homelessness), illustrating that homelessness often precipitates incarceration …and about 150,000 unstably housed young people enter the criminal justice system annually.”

The CDC says, "Rising housing costs and stagnant wages are leading more people to lose their housing and experience homelessness (duh, we know). But the valuable info: "People experiencing homelessness are at increased risk for infectious and non-infectious diseases. Homelessness is known to increase the risk for infectious diseases such as Viral Hepatitis, especially Hepatitis C, Tuberculosis (TB), Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), COVID-19 and more. People experiencing homelessness also commonly face diabetes and heart and lung disease. Stress, uncertainty, and threats to safety can lead to mental illness, alcohol and substance use disorder. Being unhoused makes seeking health care difficult so conditions worsen and can become acute.

Vote “yes” for the housing justice CSAI.

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This is a bigger, more complex issue than is apparent at first glance. It is more than “everyone needs shelter”, as true as that is. Some cases to consider are long-term housing for elders, gradually unable to maintain a home and often needing increasing medical care; previously incarcerated individuals banned from public housing (sometimes meaning that being home with family is not an option) in some places and discriminated against in others; the challenges of undocumented residents in finding secure housing; those whose health, mental or physical, makes them require assistive housing.
All of these cases, and more, call for extended thought and study, as well as various programs at UU congregations/fellowships/societies, most often in collaboration and partnership with other organizations, religious and secular.
Please vote for this CS/AI.

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My “Pro mike” testimony on 6-19-65:

This CSAI correctly identifies the lack of affordable housing as a key problem in the United States, nationwide.

 Yet this affordability crisis plays out in different ways in different localities across the US and is far more widespread than this CSAI’s DEI label would suggest. For example, households may struggle not just with discrimination but also debt, disability, or addictions, or plain old inflation. 

The deeper issues come from housing policies that subsidize the more affluent or upwardly mobile through zoning, taxes, interest rates, and the like. This has made housing a key part of speculative Wall Street finance. Just think about the 2008 subprime bubble. 

Meanwhile, a shortage of subsidies for lower income households, has left much of the working class behind, living paycheck to paycheck. Predictably, many fall into homelessness when their luck runs out.

Churches could take this CSAI as a spring board for more broad-based education and advocacy that is appropriate for their communities. I served on a city advisory committee for our neighborhood tiny house village for many years, also on my state Sierra Club Transportation and Land Use committee. 

 My wife and I help found and lead a neighborhood group that backed highly successful transit-oriented development around our light rail station, including a healthy balance of subsidized, affordable, and market rate housing. You could do the same.
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I wanted to let those watching know that I did not step back because of any change of mind. I stepped back from speaking in favor of Housing: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion only because folks got to hear my comments yesterday; it was more important to hear from Gianni. I am still in support of this CS/AI.

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A friend and colleague who is in Baltimore with many of you told me that the issue of social class seems nearly nonexistent at this year’s GA – except for the housing CSAI. This breaks my heart as someone who has spent over a decade working to embed concerns about class and classism in our denomination. Social class and the biases that we, as UUs, can bring to related issues cannot fall under the radar again. This CSAI can help us get back on track with dismantling classism in our UU communities.

I implore you to remember the connection between classism and the rise of billionaires as kings, as you think about housing purchased by conglomerates (not families/individuals), weakened affordable housing policies, and increased policing of and incarceration of low-income unhoused people (esp. youth).

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This CSAI has my enthusiastic support. My state, Washington State, has been suffering under a housing crisis for many years now. It’s a complex problem and provides opportunities to learn more deeply about our congregations’ locations, histories, peoples, and challenges. It addresses a basic human need which is shelter. It also implicates the sense of belonging and of value.

There are also many practical things that our congregations can do to improve our communities relevant to housing. One thing that my congregation has been involved with is volunteering with a cold weather shelter. We are located in the Puget Sound Lowlands which is fairly temperate, but our weather does get below freezing. At these times shelter from the cold is critical for saving lives of those without housing. This is when local cold weather shelters open and they must be staffed.

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I wish I felt like this could be solved in a year and an AIW was all it would take. But we’ve made multiple AIWs and it’s not yet solved. I don’t think we know nearly as much as we need to know to begin to make a dent in this.
I live in a converted garage that I own. In today’s market, I could not afford to rent, let alone buy it. I am mid-60’s and only make $20K a year. A CONVERTED GARAGE that has unfinished drywall is now beyond my reach in the housing market. There is no assisted living in my future. (And if we don’t act fast, my social security isn’t going to be there either.)
For a long time, I haven’t seen anything in our conversations that makes me think that many of my fellow UUs even see how things look from this perspective. This is the first time in 25 years that I had real hope we might look more closely at the class issues. I had a small glimmer when the Class COA document came out, but we didn’t act on it with real seriousness. I hope you will reconsider your remarks that we know all we need to about this.

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The text of this CSAI emphasizes the long history of UU prophetic witness on this and related issues. That is certainly true. But there is another side to our history that we will want to engage if this CSAI is successful. Unitarian Universalist (well, especially Unitarian) individuals and congregations have played a big role in protecting the privileges of suburban communities. We’ve created zoning laws that prevent the construction of adequate housing, resisted tax structures that ensure that suburbanites pay their fair share of metropolitan costs, and generally been invested in a landscape ideal of grassy lawns and privatized open spaces. We’ve also resisted all these things, but often we have spoken out against them while continuing to benefit from them. (Certainly in New England, wealthy suburban communities with big house lots and minimal multi-family units typically have more robust UU congregations than dense, working class communities.) So if this CSAI is successful (and also if it is not), I hope we will take a hard look in the mirror in the coming years.

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Thank you, Dan. Housing justice advocates look forward to working with you in the months ahead.

It’s true that some Unitarian Universalists are wealthy and living in comfortable homes. Some have joined the NIMBY crowd. Some have made hurtful comments about “trailer trash.” Some have dressed like “bums” for Sunday school parties. (It happened recently in Massachusetts.)

It’s also true that some Unitarian Universalists are homeless (unhoused) or struggling to pay for rent and utilities. Young adults know that they may never be able to purchase a home of their own. Senior citizens worry about the costs of long-term care. Some UUs are discriminated against in housing because of their race, because of their gender identification, because of disabilities, and for other reasons.

Some of the notes on the discussion board help to explain the situation.

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Bob, it was good to meet you at GA for the small meeting on Thursday morning. While this CSAI did not pass, I hope to stay connected. I volunteer with a local Baltimore and beyond nonprofit called United Workers whose mission is to end poverty. A large part of this goal is recognizing the important role decent housing for all plays.
All the CSAIs were important imo and I hope everyone is called to continue to be aware of all three.