For many residents of the Richmond region, finding safe, decent housing they can afford in a healthy neighborhood is not just a challenge, but an impossibility. This past week was Affordable Housing Awareness Week, an opportunity for more than 500 people to volunteer with some of the organizations working to solve this problem, and to learn firsthand about the impact lack of affordability has on families and the entire community.

The old way of thinking pigeon-holed housing as an issue that was separate and distinct from important topics like education and economic development, one we could deal with after we'd solved the really important problems. We now know -- and if we didn't, the current housing crisis would force us to recognize -- that you can't think about housing in a vacuum. It is a critical economic driver, and it is tied up with almost every other important aspect of our lives, from education, to transportation, to making a living.

Making sure everyone has a decent place to live is morally and ethically the right thing to do -- but ensuring that there is a place for everyone of all incomes is the only sound way to build an economically healthy community.

We need people in our community who do all kinds of essential tasks, from teaching to picking up the trash to answering the telephone in the hospital. It would probably have more of a direct impact on our lives if the trash men couldn't get to work than if a stockbroker couldn't.

FINDING a decent place to rent that costs less than 30 percent of your income (the generally accepted standard of affordability) is hard. In the Richmond area, 32 percent of all households rent. The fair market rent (FMR) in 2008 for a two-bedroom apartment is $870 -- and 48 percent of all renters can't afford it. If you have a disability and have to rely on Supplemental Security Income, you are really out of luck. Monthly SSI payments are $637 -- but the FMR for a one-bedroom apartment in the Richmond region is $779.

Many members of the community have been priced out of the market, and either can't afford to buy a home or have to commute long distances to find a place they can afford -- contributing to increased sprawl, transportation costs, and air pollution, and limiting the time they can spend with their families and in their community. The average price of a house in the Richmond metro area in 2007 was $277,000 -- impossibly high, for example, for a member of the clergy, who could afford only $116,000.

Where you live makes a difference. Just having shelter isn't enough. If you are in a high poverty area in the City of Richmond, compared with people who don't live in concentrations of poverty, you are six times more likely to be the victim of a homicide, and twice as likely to be robbed, raped, or assaulted. What is it like to bring up children in these circumstances? Who are their role models? Where is their support system? How can they possibly focus on learning?

THE LINK between housing, segregation, concentrations of poverty, and health is being increasingly documented. Socioeconomic and environmental conditions such as income, pollution, crime, the availability of fresh foods, and safe places to walk have dramatic impacts on individual and community health.

If your grocery store doesn't stock fresh vegetables and you don't have a car, there is no way you will be able to eat a healthy diet. If your children can't go outside and play because it's too dangerous, they will be more likely to be overweight. And the racism that has led to segregated communities is a proven cause of stress and hypertension. Poor health is frequently the result of community and neighborhood constraints, not bad individual choices. Those constraints are the direct result of the lack of affordable housing in good neighborhoods.

Housing is at the core of community. We need to welcome diversity in our neighborhoods and insist that our elected officials take the steps necessary to ensure housing affordability, such as supporting the creation of affordable housing trust funds. Without a community that works for everyone there ultimately will be no community at all.
Constance Chamberlin is the president and CEO of Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia Inc. Contact her at (804) 354-0641 or find out more at www.phoneHOME.org.