News & Updates

In Pittsburgh [a volunteer] helps an asylum seeker from Nicaragua and her 2-year-old son prepare for their day in a rectory converted into a halfway house for refugees. The rectory closed last year, and St. Joseph the Worker Parish, in a move approved by the diocese, now offers free use of the building to Casa San Jose, a Pittsburgh group that helps immigrants.

A comprehensive list of housing resources and news from the Church World Service (CWS) resettlement site in Jersey City.

As affordable housing advocates look for innovative ways to approach challenges, research published in 2022 has revealed “a series of alternative estimates of affordable housing among American households with low incomes.” The study, summarized by the Urban Institute’s Housing Matters, explores ways in which “different measures of income, household composition, and affordability substantially change the apparent scope of the housing affordability crisis.”

The newest version of this popular resource collects the latest available data about many aspects of recent and historical immigration to the United States. Among other important findings are these: Immigrants play a growing role in the U.S. labor force, with the foreign-born accounting for 17% of the civilian labor force in 2022. Separately, U.S. population growth has slowed in recent years, with 65% of the total 2021-2022 population increase coming from immigration.

In March, President Biden announced several new initiatives to target housing costs and availability as part of his proposed 2025 budget. The proposal includes the expansion of existing programs such as the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) while introducing new initiatives like a Neighborhood Homes Tax Credit and a $20 billion Innovation Fund for Housing Expansion.

Colleges and universities offer robust ecosystems within communities across the U.S. that can provide welcome and support for newcomers. As existing sites of education, they are also well-suited to facilitate learning and growth opportunities for refugees. This webinar on March 20 will highlight ideas, resources, and networking for ways to welcome newcomers through higher education pathways.

This week, RHS Director Lindsey Guerrero formally introduced the Global Refugee Accommodation Working Group (GRAWG) during a UNHCR Consultations on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways (CRCP) meeting in Sydney, Australia. Church World Service (CWS), which hosts the RHS initiative, co-chairs the group alongside the Irish Government.

Reworking zoning laws to allow construction of more multi-family homes and housing near public transit -- and working to cut down on permit red tape -- are just some aspects of the approach Minneapolis is taking as part of what it calls a "blueprint for housing affordability."