Asset building

As a result of decades of legalized discrimination in the housing industry, huge racial disparities in homeownership still exist today. This is not acceptable in a country founded on equal opportunity.

In 2016, the health system teamed with Spartanburg Community College and the National Center for Construction Education and Research, a nonprofit that provides global training and certification. Together, the three entities began offering construction skills training to area residents.

Over the past decade, the real estate fortunes for African Americans have reversed course. Despite a strengthening economy, including record low unemployment and higher wages for black workers, homeownership levels for that group have dropped incrementally almost every year since 2004.

One out of every 10 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 is neither working nor in school. These “disconnected” young people face an uphill battle finding work and are at risk of economic hardship well into adulthood.

Restoring the value of the minimum wage — and helping families cover basic needs — is essential to addressing hunger. The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has not increased since 2009.

In many cities, low-income residents live far from available jobs, and employers can’t find people to fill open positions.

As the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) prioritizes programs to help households receiving rental assistance achieve economic self-sufficiency, researchers, policymakers, and advocates debate the utility of work requirements as an effective pathway toward economic self-sufficiency

When we stereotype or lazily assume low-wage workers to be “low skill,” it reinforces an often unspoken and pernicious view that they lack intelligence and ambition, maybe even the potential to master “higher-order” skilled work.

This report identifies services that help low-income individuals and households achieve upward economic mobility and explores how affordable housing providers offer them. We begin by presenting key economic mobility concepts and definitions.