Housing Crisis and Catholic Social Teaching

This episode looks at recent news related to housing availability and affordability, one of the most challenging social and economic issues of our time, and how Catholic Social Teaching can guide our response to the need for more affordable housing.

Here are notes and references:

1. 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act Implementation Tracker
2. The Success of the New Federal Housing Law Now Rests on States and Localities - August 4, 2026
3. Letter to the Senate on the ROAD to Housing Act - October 28, 2025
4. America’s Housing Shortage Is Turning Into a Moral Crisis - July 27, 2026
5. Home Prices Surge to Five Times Median Income, Nearing Historic Highs - October 6, 2025
6. No State Has an Adequate Supply of Affordable Rental Housing - Interactive map
7. Catechism of the Catholic Church, see #2211
8. Affordable Housing and Homelessness - USCCB advocacy resources
9. Sollicitudo Rei Socialis 1987 - see #17
10. Amoris Laetitia 2016 - see #44
11. Holy See: Urban planning must address homelessness to promote human dignity - July 28, 2026
12. Overview of Catholic Charities activities related to affordable housing
13. University of Notre Dame - Church Property Conversion Tracker
14. Parishes turn former convents into affordable housing for teachers - Feb 12, 2024
15. Vacant East Village church to become 500+ affordable housing units - August 1, 2024
16. Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church - see #177
17. Populorum Progressio - 1967 - see #23
18. Thoughtful commentary about Catholic Teaching on Private Property, moral theologian provides overview of Catechism treatment of possessions, and "What Catholics Should Do With Their Money" from a Franciscan priest who recommends three books for additional study
19. Podcast website with full transcripts for this episode and all other episodes

Transcript

Welcome to “Headline News and Catholic Social Teaching,” where we take a brief look at stories in the news, not from a left or right political perspective, but through the lens of Catholic Social Teaching.  I’m your host, Tom Mulhern, and I hope that this podcast will help us grow in our love of God and love of our neighbors.

In this episode, we look at recent news related to housing availability and affordability, one of the most challenging social and economic issues of our time, and how Catholic Social Teaching can guide our response to the need for more affordable housing.

First, the good news, or at least the promising news.  On July 11, 2026, something called the "21st Century ROAD to Housing Act" passed into US law.  Passing with bipartisan support, this is the first federal housing package to become law in decades. There's a lot in it, with more than 50 provisions aimed at boosting housing production by streamlining federal rules and directing new funding, incentives, and technical assistance to states and local governments.  

The US Conference of Catholic Bishops came out in support of this legislation when it was in process, as did many other people and organizations.

So, the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act takes a number of lessons that have already been demonstrated to be effective and applies them nationwide, using the carrot of federal dollars to encourage wider adoption of practices that have been shown to result in more housing.  

Austin, Texas, is sort of a poster child for the kinds of provisions included in the ROAD to Housing Act.  Austin changed zoning to make it easier to build apartments and accessory dwelling units (ADUs), streamlined the permitting process to allow more homes near jobs and transit, and took other steps to allow more homebuilding. As a result, the city added 120,000 new homes between 2015 and 2024.  With this increase in the supply of housing, Austin's median rent actually decreased by $250 per month from 2021 to 2026, even as the population grew.  That's a significant change for the better.

A number of other cities and states are in various stages of enacting similar reforms, and the new ROAD to Housing Act aims to push such changes nationwide.

However, the reason for this rare bipartisan support for a housing bill is because the lack of housing that people can actually afford to own or rent is a nationwide crisis, and constituents of all political persuasions are calling for action.

I want to focus here on Catholic teaching and not get into the data on the housing crisis, but there are links to more detailed information in the notes.  To sum it up, the cost of housing over the past 20 to 30 years has risen much faster than people's incomes.  It has become difficult, even impossible, for many would-be first-time home buyers to buy a home; rental housing has become so expensive that many people can barely afford to make it from one month to the next, let alone save for a down payment on a house or for future needs; and the number of temporarily and chronically homeless people is at record levels.

Catholic Social Teaching says that decent, safe and affordable housing is a human right, rooted in the inherent dignity of the human person.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church includes this right as part of the political community's duties toward the family, see Catechism section 2211.

Here's a quote from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops: "Catholic teaching supports the right to private property, but recognizes that communities and the government have an obligation to ensure the housing needs of all are met, especially poor and vulnerable people and their families. In a time of rising homelessness and when many workers' wages are stagnant and living expenses are rising, it is important to ensure housing security." end quote

Pope St. John Paul the Second, in his encyclical Solicitudo Rei Socialis, or "The Social Concern," issued at the end of 1987, highlighted the problem of inadequate housing, saying "Even the most highly developed peoples present the sad spectacle of individuals and families literally struggling to survive, without a roof over their heads or with a roof so inadequate as to constitute no roof at all."

Pope Francis, in his 2016 apostolic exhortation “Amoris Laetitia,” said that families have “the right to decent housing, fitting for family life and commensurate to the number of members, in a physical environment that provides the basic services for the life of the family and the community.”

Then Pope Leo the 14th, speaking in October 2025, said "Echoing Francis’ words, I say today: land, housing and work are sacred rights."

And on July 28, 2026, the Permanent Observer Mission of the Vatican to the United Nations, issued a statement that included the following:

“Everybody deserves a place to call home, where they can build relationships, nurture family life, and participate fully in their community. Housing should therefore be viewed not just as a commodity or financial asset, but as a cornerstone of society at the service of the common good.”

OK, so we've got this very solid and clear set of Catholic teachings and statements about the right to housing.  How is this teaching being put into action by Catholics?

Well, Catholic Charities agencies throughout the United States have a strong focus on housing.  This includes developing affordable housing projects, operating shelters for those who are homeless, providing transitional housing that helps people move from homelessness to stable housing, managing rental and utility assistance programs, and more.  I was involved in some of this kind of work when I worked for a Catholic Charities agency in Oregon, and while it certainly didn't solve all the problems of housing in our community, it made a real difference – in some cases, a life-changing difference – for those people we were able to serve.

Another way that Catholics engage with housing is through advocacy at the national and state levels.  Bishops' conferences and other Catholic organizations frequently contact legislators and public administrators, speaking out for policies that favor affordable housing.

There is also a relatively small but growing movement to convert church properties – schools that have closed, parishes and convents that are no longer in use, and so on – into affordable housing.  There are links in the notes to some interesting examples.

Church teaching about the right to housing is related to Church teaching about the right to private property.  Catholic Social Teaching has been a strong proponent of the right to private property, particularly over and against more socialistic or state-owned approaches to property.  But the way the Church supports the right to private property is not the way that modern secular society talks about property rights.

The Church teaches that those who don't own property have a right to become property-owners, to own their own homes, as the preferred way to support the development and thriving of the family.  This reflects multiple principles of Catholic Social Teaching, including the dignity of the human person, solidarity of the human community, and the idea of subsidiarity, or keeping responsibility at the lowest possible level.

However, in order to achieve the goal of more widespread home ownership, those who already own property have to recognize that their property rights are limited by the common good.  What does this mean?

Consider this quote from the Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, number 177: “Christian tradition has never recognized the right to private property as absolute and untouchable: On the contrary, it has always understood this right within the broader context of the right common to all to use the goods of the whole of creation: the right to private property is subordinated to the right to common use, to the fact that goods are meant for everyone."

As Pope St. Paul VI wrote in his 1967 encyclical, Populorum Progressio, “No one may appropriate surplus goods solely for his own private use when others lack the bare necessities of life."

And while we may nod our heads and say "yeah, that sounds right," the moral and practical implications of this teaching are unsettling for most of us.  What it means is that our right to private property extends to the basic necessities of life and what we need for what the Church calls the "integral human development" of ourselves and our families, but any property we possess beyond that we are obliged, not just in charity but in justice, to give to those who are lacking the basic necessities of life.  I certainly fall short of living up to this teaching in my own life, and it troubles me.  If you are open to being troubled too, there are links to a couple of thought-provoking essays in the notes.

The question becomes, how do we draw the line between basic necessities and surplus goods, between integral development and sinful selfishness?  Each of us has to answer that question based on our specific circumstances.  But it doesn't take much reflection to recognize that the materialist and consumerist culture in which we are immersed can lead us to rationalize all kinds of 'wants' as 'needs.'  

And to overcome this tendency, I think we need a multi-pronged approach.  We need sustained prayer, we need to truly hear what the Gospel says, we need to open our hearts to Church teaching, and we can certainly learn from the examples of faithful Christians, both in our own time and down through the ages, particularly the saints, on this question of how to be good stewards of the resources that God has given us.  I think if we try to do these things, it can't help but lead us in ways that are better for us, better for those who lack adequate housing, and in better harmony with the Kingdom of God.

Well, that's it for this episode of “Headline News and Catholic Social Teaching.”  If you found it worthwhile, I invite you to share it with others.  If you’d like to make a comment or send me a message or pose a question, there’s a link in the notes to do so.

And I hope and pray that, in some small way, this episode might help us live our lives guided by the Holy Spirit through the teachings of the Church.  

Thank you for listening.