BY ERICA CROSEN

Collaboration Over Competition: When Success Belongs to the Community

Someone comes to Catholic Charities and says, “I need help with my rent.”

The request seems straightforward. There’s an overdue balance, and financial assistance might resolve it. But to help, you need to ask another question: “What happened?”

Perhaps work hours were reduced, childcare fell through, or a car needed repairs. Or perhaps nothing unexpected happened. Housing, food, utilities, and transportation simply cost more than the household’s income could support.

Unpaid rent may be where the crisis becomes visible, but it isn’t necessarily where it began.

When assistance buys time

Each month, approximately 300–450 households request rental assistance from Catholic Charities. About twenty receive help, which may cover only part of what they owe.  During COVID, the government prioritized housing and put millions toward keeping people in their homes.  That level of funding is no longer available, so agencies who help with rent do what they can to stave off the crisis for as many families as they can afford to help.

Sometimes we can contribute toward an overdue balance and work with a landlord on a repayment plan. The family avoids eviction, but an important question remains: Can they sustain their housing?

If rent was already difficult to afford, adding monthly repayment obligations may deepen the strain. We’ve addressed the immediate emergency, while the conditions that caused it remain.

Still, keeping a family housed creates something valuable: time. Time to resolve childcare or transportation challenges, increase income, explore resources, or look for more sustainable housing.

That breathing room can make a lasting difference when paired with support that addresses the family’s circumstances.

People’s needs are connected

People don’t experience challenges one at a time. A housing problem may also involve employment, health, childcare, transportation, or food. Yet our systems often treat these as separate problems.

Food assistance may free income for rent. A car repair may preserve a job. Reliable childcare may allow a parent to work more hours.

Catholic Charities doesn’t have to provide every service. Sometimes we help directly; other times, we connect a family with an organization better equipped to meet a particular need.

But we must also recognize the limits of individual assistance. No amount of case management can close a persistent gap between what housing costs and what a household earns. Families need safe, appropriate housing they can afford—and realistic opportunities to achieve stability.

From individual experiences to community solutions

Compassion calls us to respond to the person standing in front of us. It should also lead us to ask: “Why does this keep happening?”

When transportation repeatedly threatens employment, childcare keeps parents from working, or families still can’t afford housing even after receiving assistance, those experiences reveal recurring barriers.

They help us ask what our community could do differently.

Emergency assistance remains essential. Preventing an eviction today can prevent a much greater crisis tomorrow. But charitable resources alone cannot solve housing affordability or the other pressures that bring families to our doors.

We need to help people facing a crisis today while working with community partners to change the conditions that make those crises more likely.

Direct service changes lives today. Systems change can help prevent tomorrow’s crises. A stronger community requires both.