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Over 20 years ago, the federal government established June as National Homeownership Month to celebrate the value of homeownership and its benefits, including enabling generational wealth and creating strong communities. However, in today’s tumultuous housing landscape, homeownership feels out of reach for many Americans — we need to make changes.

The modern housing market presents challenges for homeowners, renters and prospective buyers alike, creating barriers to the benefits of homeownership unseen by previous generations. Mortgage rates are high and continue to fluctuate, supply cannot keep up with demand and, as a result, housing prices have skyrocketed across the country – making the dream of homeownership unattainable for many Americans.

Since 2019, housing prices have increased about 54%, and nearly half of Americans struggle to afford their monthly housing bills. But this data merely scratches the surface – Americans across the country have experienced today’s housing challenges firsthand and are sharing their stories.  Brenda R., a single mother of six children from Pennsylvania, shared that “the cost of housing is astronomical and a huge part of [her] community cannot afford safe housing,” calling for “workable solutions to this housing crisis” from legislators.

Andrew H. from Illinois, a full-time factory worker and father of two small children, is “sacrificing bills for rent.”