What Does the Need for Affordable Housing Look Like?

October 25, 2017                               By:  Morgan Kinney

The documentary Our Journey Home comes to Houston to illustrate the benefits of much-needed public housing.

HOUSTON DOESN’T HAVE THE LOOMING public housing projects ubiquitous in cities like New York and Chicago. Those sprawling complexes and towers were largely built in the postwar decades when the Bayou City was, well, a much smaller place. Even now, as the fourth largest city, Houston Housing Authority CEO Tory Gunsolley says Houston continues to have one of the lowest rates of affordable housing for a city of its size—a shortfall only exacerbated by recent disasters.

“Post-Harvey, the need for affordable housing has increased,” Gunsolley says. “More people have realized that it is scarce, so it’s a perfect time for Our Journey Home to come to Houston.”

Set to screen in Houston Monday, Oct. 30, Our Journey Home is a 2015 documentary from ReThink, a group that educates and promotes the benefits of public housing with things like public service announcements and a songwriting contest that asked public housing residents “Why Housing Matters.” The film follows three families in public housing to illustrate how this bulwark against homelessness keeps them going, working against negative stereotypes. “Once you say you’re homeless, it’s like your character is out the window,” says one of the film’s subjects..............Read More