The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s newly released report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, documents a shortage of 7 million affordable and available rental homes for our nation’s lowest-income renters, who make up one quarter of all renters in the U.S. This severe shortage forces 71% of our poorest families – seniors, people...Lee mas

First coined by sociologist Ruth Glass in the 1960s, gentrification has been part of the lexicon for those working in both economics and the affordable housing sector. Gentrification as an idea has changed over the years. For Glass it was the process wherein middle-class workers moved into the working-class neighborhoods of London, resulting in the...Lee mas

Join Zoom Meeting online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89516136750?pwd=YlFrbFk0ZEhYU3FQQlNWQUZSaDNBdz09 Meeting ID: 895 1613 6750 Password: 169573 Join via cell phone or landline: DIAL: (301)-715-8592 CALL-IN CODE:  895 1613 6750# PASSWORD: *169573# Use this link to Sign up for the Affordable Housing Coalition Further Reading: NLIHC Out of Reach Report for Missouri Housing is the key – by Sarah Owsley TownsendLee mas

Last week, I offered testimony against a pair of bills in the Missouri House and Senate aimed at reducing homelessness. I first celebrated with the sponsors and the committee members that the Missouri legislature should be doing more to address our neighbors who live outside; homelessness is an untenable situation that is below the dignity...Lee mas

This year’s Week of Action is a choose-your-adventure. We’ll have virtual content on April 4th, 6th, and 7th and we’ll be live and in person on Tuesday, April 5th from 10AM- 3PM to sharpen your advocacy skills– or build new ones! During our in-person day, you will learn how a bill moves through the legislative...Lee mas

At the end of May, the Missouri General Assembly adjourned after a legislative session that began in January. State policymakers survived the drama of the session while producing some good and bad legislation.  In May, join Empower Missouri and other panelists as we give you the scoop on what went on in Jefferson City this...Lee mas

Join Zoom Meeting online: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89516136750?pwd=YlFrbFk0ZEhYU3FQQlNWQUZSaDNBdz09 Meeting ID: 895 1613 6750 Password: 169573 Join via cell phone or landline: DIAL: (301)-715-8592 CALL-IN CODE:  895 1613 6750# PASSWORD: *169573# Use this link to Sign up for the Affordable Housing Coalition Further Reading: NLIHC Out of Reach Report for Missouri Housing is the key – by Sarah Owsley TownsendLee mas

For months, Empower Missouri and our allies in Missouri have been urging our federal representatives to pass the Build Back Better Act, an opportunity to make historic investments for our neighbors with low incomes. Last week, Congress passed what we hope to be a final version of the bill. It includes targeted investments to reduce...Lee mas

Since 1901, the pinnacle of Empower Missouri’s work each year has been its Annual Conference. In fact, for the first decade, that was the bulk of Empower Missouri’s (then called the Missouri State Conference on Charities & Corrections) work. Once a year, advocates gathered together to discuss the state of affairs in Missouri and make...Lee mas

Homelessness and poverty are not crimes. However, in many communities across Missouri, it is treated like one. Police involvement in the form of ‘camp sweeps’ is often the method used to move people who are houseless out of the areas they have made their home. Springfield, Missouri can be used as a case study for...Lee mas