Why I support a Waukesha Housing Trust Fund

Welcome to a new series of posts that we are starting here at the Creating Communities Campaign blog. We will be asking our supporters and endorsers why they support the Waukesha County Affordable Housing Task Force and the efforts to create a Housing Trust Fund in Waukesha County.

First up is Donald Johnson, Chair of the Workforce Housing Task Force for SOPHIA. First, a short description of SOPHIA, which is a coalition of faith communities and a member of WISDOM at the state level.

SOPHIA is dedicated to dialog with public and private persons, agencies and office holders to stimulate creative and effective efforts to improve our community, solve its problems and address both universal and particular needs in our increasingly fragmented world. We join hands with others to bring effective change rather than isolated self interest.

Mr. Johnson tells us (my bolds):

There have been at least three (3) "equal', "open", or "fair" housing bills passed since the 50's in this great country of ours. Why it takes so much legislation to insure a simple human right says something about how difficult it is to change peoples attitudes about certain things we've accepted in our society. I was always taught that the "truth'' was still true even if a falsehood was practiced.

I have been affected by or participated in civil rights since I was a young boy in the 1960's. Social justice, in many ways, has become a part of my American heritage. Housing has always been a basic part of "freedom" to me. If you live in my country, America, you should be "equally" free to go anywhere, work anywhere, and live anywhere. I became actively involved with SOPHIA, a part of WISDOM about a year ago. This social issues group practices the use of organized "money" and organized "people" to cause positive change in our community. I am the chairperson for our Workforce Housing Task Force. We endorse and support the efforts of Waukesha County Affordable Housing Task Force to establish a "housing trust fund". Housing for Waukesha county's workforce is "affordable" housing. We believe "if you're good enough to work here, you're good enough to live here". This concept needs to be "accepted" in our society today.

Don Johnson - SOPHIA, Workforce Housing Task Force
http://www.sophiawaukesha.org/

Here we see for Mr. Johnson, representing SOPHIA, that affordable housing is a moral issue, of equality. I seem to remember something in the Declaration of Independence about that.