21. What is Affordable Housing?

This week on the HOME Team Podcast, Carl Falconer and Danny Arroyo tackle a foundational question: What is affordable housing?

They break down the 30% rule (housing costs shouldn’t exceed 30% of income), explain AMI (Area Median Income), and why the phrase “affordable housing” can be misleading unless we ask the real question: Affordable for who? From 110% AMI all the way down to 30% AMI and below, Carl and Danny discuss why Pathlight HOME primarily serves residents at the extremely low-income level—and why deep subsidies are often required.

In “Offense vs. Defense,” they explore both sides of whether affordable housing should be a top community priority—covering benefits like stability, health, and stronger neighborhoods, alongside common concerns like cost, infrastructure strain, and NIMBYism.

Plus: a spotlight on Julian Love (2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Nominee for the Seattle Seahawks) for his impact in underserved communities, and a look at cold-weather shelter activations across Central Florida.

Key takeaway: Affordable housing creates stability, dignity, and opportunity—helping people become healthier, more secure, and better able to contribute to their communities.

Email questions: ⁠⁠⁠⁠questions@pathlighthome.org⁠⁠⁠⁠

Support, volunteer, or tour: PathlightHOME.org

Produced by Gigi Ramirez and Jay Falconer.

Music and Sound Design by Kwon.

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Welcome to the Home Team Podcast. I'm Carl Falconer, and I'm Danny Arroyo, and we're tackling homelessness.

SPEAKER_05 0:21

Today in our podcast, we'll discuss two of our passions, football and ending homelessness. Please join us through four quarters, with our topic this week being what is affordable housing? All right, Danny, how was your weekend?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Uh it was busy actually. Went to Disney again. Wow. It was cold. Yeah. Um visited my parents, took my wife to Tampa, uh, got rid of my daughter's car finally. Um so it was a busy weekend. Oh, the old car. The old car, the old car, yeah, yeah. The old car. So we got somebody to pick it up and it was a busy weekend, yeah. We had an extra day off.

SPEAKER_05 1:00

So wonderful. How was yours? It was good. It was good. I went up to Jacksonville, um, hung out with family up there. Um, of course, watched, you know, some of the football that went on. Yep. Um, but yeah, it was it was pretty good overall. Good, yeah. Pretty good weekend. Yeah, good football games this week. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

It was good games.

SPEAKER_05 1:19

All right, now we'll start it off as we always do with the coin flip. Uh Danny, go ahead and call it in the air.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Uh heads.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

It is heads, so you get to start us off.

SPEAKER_02 1:31

All right, so welcome to our first quarter. I'm going to kick off by defining our topic of the week, and then we will cover some news headlines and announce the results from last week's home team, Locks of the Week. So, as Carl mentioned, our topic this week is uh what is affordable housing. So, affordable housing is housing that is priced so individuals and families can afford to live in it without experiencing financial hardship. It generally means that a household spends no man no more than 30% of its income on rent or mortgage payments, including basic utilities. When housing costs stay within this limit, people are better able to pay for other essentials such as uh needs such as food, health care, transportation, and education. Affordable housing is designed to support low and moderate income households, including workers, seniors, people with disabilities, and families who may struggle with high housing costs. It can include rental homes, subsidized, or government-supported housing, income-restricted apartments, and affordable homeownership options. The goal of affordable housing is to provide safe, stable, and decent living conditions while promoting economic stability and preventing homelessness.

SPEAKER_05 2:38

All right. Well, we definitely know about affordable housing. Yep, definitely. No doubt about that here at Pathlight Home. Um I think the biggest uh problem with affordable housing nowadays is that everybody says they're doing affordable housing. If you if you read the newspaper, if you read headlines, if you look at all you know what statements are being made by politicians or statements being made, even by service providers, everybody's doing what they call affordable housing. And now I'm using my air quotes. I know our listeners can't see me, but I've got my air quotes in the air. Um and so one of the things about affordable housing that we need to really stress that the community really needs to know about is you need to ask, who is it affordable for?

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 3:28

Whenever you hear the term affordable housing, that should be the question that you ask. Who is it affordable for? So uh one of the terms that we definitely want you to understand is what we call AMI or area median income. And basically what that does is just like it describes the area median income. So it's the middle income for individuals, and there's a number that goes along with that, and you can look it up online for different areas. Every geographic area has one. Typically, what you're looking for is uh there are basically I think three, maybe four different categories of affordable housing, and they they're based off of this area of median income, the AMI, for an area. So there's a hundred and ten percent AMI, which means they're making a hundred and ten percent of whatever that area of median income is. So let's say it's fifty thousand dollars for you know for Orange County. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but let's say it's fifty thousand dollars. If it was a hundred and ten percent, it'd be a hundred and ten percent of that. You'd basically end up with about fifty-five thousand dollars. Right. So it would be for people who are making that or less typically. If it if the affordable housing is for a 110% AMI, then you go down to maybe 80% AMI, um, and then you go to 60% AMI, and then you go to what we call the extremely low income or 30% AMI.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 5:04

30% AMI and lower is really those people, some of the people that you talked about when you mentioned this, is seniors, people with disabilities, basically people who are in a fixed income of some kind, typically really, really low income. You're talking about oftentimes fifteen thousand dollars or less in a year that they make based off of whatever their disability or whatever their benefits are.

SPEAKER_02 5:29

And those are the most vulnerable.

SPEAKER_05 5:31

And those are the most vulnerable. Those are most of the people that we serve. Now, our because of funding sources, and usually that's how it's determined who gets to stay in the affordable housing, is it's by the funding source, the the people who give you the money. So several of our funding sources ha allow us to go up to 60% area median income. But because we have a restriction that everybody coming in here has to be homeless, oftentimes it's less than 30% AMI or area median income.

SPEAKER_02 6:06

We don't have many that are at that 60th percent.

SPEAKER_05 6:08

No, not many at all. And so the thing is, is that is what we're trying to do is we're trying to serve that extremely low income or ELI, they call it, the extremely low portion of the uh of the area median income. And to do that, you have to have really, really deep subsidies, or you have to have really, really cheap rent, basically, in order for people to be able to make that. And so I think that's the thing that people have to understand is every single time you see that in the newspaper, it could be completely different for every different category. It could be at 110%, and you could have people who are making fifty thousand dollars a year and they say they're living in affordable housing. Well, it's affordable for people making fifty thousand dollars a year. Exactly. The reality is though, in the homeless service sector, that's not our population of people. Our people just do not make that much money. If they if they did, they would not be homeless, first of all. And second of all, they'd be able to find their own housing out in the in the country.

SPEAKER_02 7:11

Yeah, and we're seeing a lot of properties being built just in this neighborhood alone. Yeah, and they're calling it affordable. And then when we go in to possibly help some of our residents who want to move on and get something bigger, and we see the rent, we're like, there's no way they're gonna afford this, and it's not affordable. It's not affordable, not not to the people we serve. That's correct, you know, and I would love to see how they are coming up with that, you know, because you see some apartments that say luxury, right? So you know it's coming with all these bougie things, right? Sure. But then you see the affordable, and you're like, okay, great, there's gonna be a thousand dollars, it's gonna be less. Exactly. And then you see it and it's like sixteen hundred bucks, which is which I think is the fair market brand. Right now, it's like sixteen seventy five, I think, for one bedroom. Right. So it's just it's not affordable. Not again, not for the people we serve. It's not for the people we serve. It's not so what we have here is affordable, it is in line with the people who serve, with what they're coming in with. Absolutely, and because of all the different programs we have, we can it's different for every resident that comes in, which is great. So, yeah, affordable housing when they use it, it's like, is it really? Yeah, exactly. How are you defining it? I would love to hear how they define affordable housing.

SPEAKER_05 8:13

Well, and everybody defines it differently, and that's the problem. That's why when you hear it in the community, what you need to ask yourself is who's it affordable for? Right. And you need to ask, who are you serving? Yeah, and then you got to find out about that area of median income.

SPEAKER_02 8:27

And then you and then you look at some of the affordable of some of the properties that they're building in low-income areas, uh-huh, such as where we at. Oh, yeah. And it's just it's still it the amount of rent, it's not affordable. It doesn't make any sense. And like, who who are you trying to get in there? Like, what is the population you want to serve?

SPEAKER_05 8:44

That's exactly right. Yeah. And the the other term now that's coming out that goes along with affordable housing is workforce housing. You hear that a lot. Um heroes housing.

SPEAKER_02 8:55

There's one that's being built here.

SPEAKER_05 8:56

Yeah, and and and those are catered towards, again, not necessarily people who are meeting these 30% AMI, that's for sure. They might be at 60, they might be at 80, then probably more than likely that are they at 110%. Yeah. But you're talking about teachers, firefighters, police officers. And look, don't get me wrong, we need uh housing for them to be affordable. But but again, there's no real definition of what affordable housing is. And I wish there was. I wish we could all agree across the country that you know this number serving people at this area of median income or below is affordable housing. And then everybody uses that definition. But the problem is everybody keeps moving it, and the reason they keep moving it is because they want you to think it's affordable for everyone when in fact it's not affordable for most of the people.

SPEAKER_02 9:49

It's only a select few that they can get in there. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_05 9:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:53

All right.

SPEAKER_05 9:54

All right. Uh now let's take a look at some of the headlines from the homeless world. Um, this one comes to us from Hawaii. Uh, Hawaii County homeless population grew despite a $33 million investment. Um, nearly four years ago, the Hawaii uh County Council tackled the homeless, the local homeless population problem in a big way, earmarking the first funding of what would become $33 million. The results have been disappointing, and council support for the effort seems to be eroding. Last month, a new request for another six million dollars for outreach and other homeless programs barely made it through on a 5-4 council vote. I'm here pondering, said Pune Council member Ashley Kierkowitz during a discussion of the latest round of homelessness funding. Have the tens of millions of dollars that Hawaii County has invested in this program, have we made a dent? Are we better off as a community? Because when I'm outside and I'm walking through communities of downtown Pajoa and downtown Hilo, Hilo, it doesn't look like we're better off, she said. I have to recognize the reality of what we're seeing. Um this would have been a fumble too. Yeah, well, it could have been a fumble a little bit, but it in and the fumble in this is that it depends on how they're marking this. Again, uh when when I read this article, and of course there's more to this article, obviously, but they didn't talk about any numbers. I wasn't talking about any data, they didn't talk to any homeless service providers. I mean, it's it's it's skewed, right? You know, just walking outside and seeing, you know, homeless people out on the street, that doesn't tell you anything. That's anecdotal uh evidence at best.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

It you know, I would have liked to have seen like how many people are homeless in the in the county? How many are you know how much housing is there? You know, how many people did they get into housing houses? Exactly. What services are they providing? And then they're asking for six million more to do outreach. And uh so what did the first thirty-three million go to?

SPEAKER_05 12:05

That's true. Yes. And and again, uh I think what it what it speaks to is that people anecdotally, when they see people out on the streets, thinks the think the problem is just automatically getting worse. Okay, I see people, it's getting worse. It didn't solve the problem. We we had 33 million dollars, and here's a guy paying handling on the corner. Well, there could have there could be 10 guys out there if you didn't spend that 33 million dollars. But again, you really got to look at this and you gotta figure out, you know, what obviously where did the money go? You know, what did you use the money for? But also you got to figure out uh time has uh something to do with it, you know. And again, four years is a long time, so they should have some programs up and running, but you don't know about that either. You don't know if those programs got delayed, you don't know if you know the programs were spread out over different areas. I mean, there's a whole lot of information that's missing from this. Um, just the fact that their homeless population grew and they spent $33 million. Okay, well, the other part of it is what's happening with your housing costs. And I've heard that in Hawaii it's very, very expensive to live, which means there's plenty of people, I'm sure, that are getting left out and that are becoming homeless. And so all of those things factor into this.

SPEAKER_02 13:26

And how much affordable housing is there?

SPEAKER_05 13:28

How much affordable housing is there? How much affordable housing is there? Because it's affordable for.

SPEAKER_02 13:32

Who is it affordable for, right? That's exactly right. Again, what is the medium income there? What is that's right. I mean that's this would this would have been a I wanted more to get more data out of it. Because right now, the all I'm reading is you spent you wasted the money. Yeah, it could be. But you didn't you didn't give me if there was any positive outcomes out of it. That's you know, so that's right.

SPEAKER_05 13:48

And that's the headline. I mean, that's the headline, and I I think that's a real bad slant on trying to you know dig into this and trying to figure out where the money is and what happened and things like that. And yeah, so it's it's just it again, it's easy to say that the problem is getting worse, but you've got to have data, you've got to have information, you've got to be able to back these things up, and you've got to ask yourself what's really happening with these dollars and what's going on. Can't just be anecdotal, it can't just be somebody walking outside. Right. You know, that's like walking outside here, you know, of our apartment and saying, okay, all of Orlando now, it's not raining in all of Orlando because I walked outside. And it's sunny.

SPEAKER_06 14:34

And it's sunny. And it's sunny.

SPEAKER_05 14:36

You know, no. There's lots of places where it could be raining.

SPEAKER_02 14:39

The way Orlando is you walk up one block, it's raining, and the other one is another one that's not. That's a floating.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Yes, exactly. So anyway.

SPEAKER_02 14:46

Well, I hope they get to fix this because that's a lot of money.

SPEAKER_05 14:49

It is a lot of money. All right. Let's see how our Cowboys and Bears. Cowboys didn't do anything. Okay, Cowboys didn't do anything. We can skip that one. Well, they I mean they did fire their defensive coordinator. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

They haven't hired anyone yet.

SPEAKER_05 15:00

They haven't hired anybody yet, but they're trying, right? They're they're going through the process, and uh hopefully they'll get somebody really good.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

I think there'll be a lot of more moves when the season is officially over. I think that's when they start kind of.

SPEAKER_05 15:11

Well, and you got draft picks, right? I mean, you gave up Micah Parsons, so you got some draft picks coming up in the draft. And you know, we'll talk about that when we get to our draft day edition of the podcast.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

See who they're bringing in.

SPEAKER_05 15:23

Yeah, they should have some they should have some good picks. Yep. So uh whoever the new defensive coordinator is should have some you know uh some talent to play with, hopefully. Um as far as my Bears, uh we ended our streak. Uh we were we were you know rolling along there, but couldn't get over the hump. Uh the Rams, we played the Rams at home. Obviously, it was the second week of the playoffs. Uh the Rams beat us 20 to 17. It went into overtime.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Uh that last pass in the playoffs.

SPEAKER_05 15:55

Made a fantastic pass, of course, as he didn't.

SPEAKER_02 15:59

I started cheering, and I was like, wait a minute, I'm not a Bears fan. I was by myself at home and I started like, oh my God. And I was like, wait a minute. That's not my case.

SPEAKER_05 16:08

Yes, it was it was it was pretty much.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

They had a good season. Listen, they had a considering what what you had said in the beginning of the podcast, yes, what you thought they were gonna be to what they were. I mean, that it's very promising for next year.

SPEAKER_05 16:20

I agree, I agree. I think we have a lot of pieces in place. I think we have to do a little bit more on the defensive side. We got to really, you know, kind of get our defense up to speed. I'd like to see them get uh a really good pass rusher. I think that's what they really need. Is if they can get someone who can who can apply a little bit of pressure there, I think I think we'll be we'll be ready to go. We'll be ready to contend for the Super Bowl next year.

SPEAKER_02 16:43

You guys keep going the way you did this year, I think. Yeah, got a bit of chance in your conference. So absolutely. All right, so let's uh that wraps up the first quarter. We'll be back after this break.

SPEAKER_05 16:55

Hello everyone. I'm Carl Falconer, the president and CEO of Pathlight Home. And I'm often asked by many in the community, what can I do to help end homelessness? I would like to invite you to join Pathlight Home's efforts. PathLite Home is a 501c3 nonprofit organization in Central Florida. We currently have 560 units of housing that we provide to individuals experiencing homelessness. But we also provide additional support through employment resource centers and mental health services. We have a drop-in day center where people can come in from the heat, do laundry, get meals, all in preparation to get them into housing eventually and off the streets. Community involvement is key to the success of our efforts, and we love when community members want to get involved with Pathlight Home. There are three things we invite you to do to help. Number one, consider supporting us with funding. No donation is too small, and every dollar has an impact on our community. You can go to pathlighthome.org and click our donate button to contribute anytime. Number two is volunteering. We love to have volunteers come in and help us with any of our projects. We have ongoing projects and needs, but are also open to individuals and groups sharing specific talents in ways that build up our residence. Number three is take a tour with us. Come here to our facility and see what we do for yourself. It's the best way to get an inside look at what we're doing at Pathlight Home each day. We think it's important to understand the work it takes to fight homelessness and love the opportunity to meet community members who are passionate about the issue. We love our Central Florida community and are grateful every day for the continued support. And again, to get involved, go to pathlethome.org. Thank you. This is the second quarter. We are getting a little deeper into a homelessness topic with something we call offense versus defense. We will each take turns discussing some opposing viewpoints of our topic this week. The question we asked this week is should affordable housing be a top priority for communities and governments? Please remember that we are trying to show both sides of the issue. These do not necessarily reflect our individual stances on these positions. So, Danny, you get to start us off with the pros, or yes, uh affordable housing should be a top priority for communities and governments.

SPEAKER_02 19:32

All right. So, first is affordable housing helps reduce homelessness by giving people a stable and safe place to live. Without worrying about shelter, individuals can focus on work, education, and personal growth. Uh next, it improves overall health since people with a stable housing are less likely to experience stress, illness, and mental health struggles. Uh next is children in affordable housing have better chances of success in school because they experience experience fewer disruptions and more stability. Uh next, it strengthens uh communities by creating more diverse, inclusive neighborhoods and reducing poverty-related issues. Uh next is affordable housing can boost the local economy by allowing workers to live closer to their jobs, reducing commuting call commuting costs, and increasing productivity. And lastly, it promotes dignity and equality by ensuring that everyone, regardless of income, has access to a basic human need, a safe home. So you have cons.

SPEAKER_05 20:27

They know I have the cons. No. Uh affordable housing projects can be expensive to build, maintain, and manage, which may strain government budgets and taxpayer money. So again, uh making it a priority might be a little bit challenging from uh from a taxpayer uh or government budget standpoint. Uh long-term funding is required to keep housing affordable, and this can be difficult during economic downturns, again, with the funding. Some residents worry that affordable housing might increase crowding or put pressure on local schools, transportation, and health care services. Okay. I don't yeah. Okay. Next one. Keep it moving. There can be concerns about declining property values, even though research often shows this fear is overstated. Next, zoning laws and neighborhood opposition can slow down or block affordable housing projects. That we know that to mean with the NIMBY, of course, not in my backyard. Exactly. And finally, if not properly planned and supported, affordable housing developments may struggle with maintenance or access to resources. All right, let's uh let me talk about yours first. Um yes, I think uh affordable housing obviously reduces homelessness. Uh, we know about that, and it helps people in all aspects of their life, health, and so on and so forth. Yep. Children, that's a big one. Uh families, uh, really, you know, children in affordable housing. Have better chance of success. And you know, the the um evidence shows that the data shows that. Um it strengthens communities by creating more diversity. I think that's a real strength that people don't think about is it really does by bringing affordable housing into a community, uh, even a partial portion of the community, it really does help add to the flavor of the community. Um, it can boost the local economy. Yes, and no. I mean, yeah, not to say that other things can't boost the economy either. I don't think uh, you know, affordable housing is the only thing. Um, it does promote dignity and equality by assuring that everyone, you know, has a basic right. And again, most of yours, I think, are focused on the basic rights and the positive aspects of affordable housing. But it's not just affordable housing, it's housing. You know, the the positive aspects of somebody being housed, which again goes back to the whole idea of should it be a right for people. You know, we pretty much have there's only certain things I think that most people can agree that everybody should have. Yeah, right? They should have food, they should have shelter, right? Maybe transportation, but and health care. Healthcare, yeah. Yep. Those things. I mean, it's pretty much a given that if you don't have those things, you're gonna suffer in the community, and the community is gonna suffer because of that because now that more resources have to be spent, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 23:32

That's exactly right, and more services. And so I think for yours, again, that NIMBY one, of course, you know, putting people uh building properties on certain zones where you're gonna have politicians probably against it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And also just in the the first one with building, maintaining, and managing. I mean, yeah, we've seen firsthand how hard it is to get oh absolutely just property and period, you know, any property that's already been. But I was just telling my parents this weekend because they went to Maxwell Garden, they went to the thrift store.

SPEAKER_03 23:59

Uh-huh. They went to check it out. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

So they were, they they didn't know that that was ours. They told me just all, and I said, No, no, we have these two properties. So I told them that we went to Dundee. And because they they live about 20 minutes, and I said it's very far. And they were like, We know, and and I said, you know, we saw a property, but it takes a while to even buy a property to go through the whole process of so it's not that easy to just, hey, there's a property, let's buy it. It there's so many red tape we have to go through, and so many, and then then to decide what it's gonna cost, how much it's gonna be the red's gonna be. So it's it's I the first one I kind of understand it, yeah. Um, that it is difficult to to purchase anything.

SPEAKER_05 24:36

So well, but I think also that speaks to the whole idea that if you're going to have affordable housing, you've got to have a plan. You've got to have a long-term plan that is constantly adding, maintaining, building affordable housing. You can't just do like most communities do where they have these one-offs, you know. Oh, okay, we're gonna give $10 million today, and that's gonna solve the problem forever and ever and ever. No, this is like us going to be a little bit of a good thing. It's like us.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

We we've gone to see properties and we don't even have it yet. And we're already planning what it's gonna be, that's right, what it's gonna cost, who we're gonna serve, and just start planning.

SPEAKER_05 25:15

Five years, ten years. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 25:16

Because if not, you're gonna go in blind and it's gonna fail.

SPEAKER_05 25:19

But in communities, you've got to have multiple projects going on over and over and over again. You know, we just talked about Hawaii spending $33 million. Well, sure, if you spend $33 million one time and then expect that to last for 10 years, no, that's not gonna solve your problem. What you need to do is you need to have a consistent, which is why they're going back and asking for another six million dollars. You've got to have a consistent flow of funding, of planning, of management. Yep. And then it comes down to, you know, one of the biggest problems that we have here and in most places is land. You know, you've got to have land available that you can expand and you can move on to and be able to build on.

SPEAKER_02 26:03

But then it goes back to one of your other points is so now you build on the land, or you want to build on the land, but then you have residents who are against it with that whole NIMBY, zoning law, not wanting it, and then you have again politicians who are not in favor of they don't want it in their district.

SPEAKER_05 26:17

That's exactly again.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

It's just a lot of red tape on it.

SPEAKER_05 26:20

So which is why we've got to come up with a plan. We have to figure out a way to be able to create the entire structure or create the entire plan for affordable housing over a long term. It can't just be a, like I said, a one-off. It's got to be planned out so that you've got, let's say, 10 projects in 10 years, right? And everybody agrees that we're going to stick to this. So if the politicians change, if the neighborhoods change, if anything changes, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter because you're not going to be able to do that. We're still sticking to this. Exactly. And being able to go follow it through all the way to the end of it.

SPEAKER_04 26:59

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_05 27:00

All right. Well, Pathlight's position, Pathlight Home believes affordable housing is a foundation for ending homelessness and creating long-term stability. We support a housing first approach, providing safe, permanent homes as a first step so individuals can rebuild their lives and access the support they need to succeed. So obviously, we're a big fan of affordable housing. As we've talked about, we're trying to serve the the lowest uh you know uh income individuals that we possibly can. And we're always trying to add more and more housing that's available for them.

SPEAKER_02 27:37

And then have them come and move in and then provide all the other services and support, whatever it is that they need. We just keep helping them until they tell us they don't need us anymore. Absolutely. Okay. So uh so we have made it to the halfway point, and during halftime, we want to take a moment for fan interaction and highlight an inspired quote related to housing and homelessness.

SPEAKER_05 27:59

All right. Now let's take a moment to hear from our listeners. Uh this one comes from Jason. Uh, how does affordable housing improve quality of life?

SPEAKER_02 28:09

So I kind of said it in my pros, right? A little bit, yeah. It's their health, less stress, their mental health.

SPEAKER_05 28:15

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 28:15

Um, their kids um can focus better in school. We see that a lot with kids in school who are basically meal to meal and don't know if they're living in cars.

SPEAKER_06 28:24

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

So it's just, yeah, it's just making them be more secure, um, not have to worry about check to check, worry about where they're gonna get food from. So it's just a stress reliever knowing that they can afford where they're at and they don't have to worry about being homeless again or being evicted. And so because all that I mean, once you get evicted, it creates a whole other mess for you to you try to even get something else. But yeah, it just it creates a sense of peace, I guess. Yeah, you know, that you're somewhere safe.

SPEAKER_05 28:51

Well, and Daisy, the second question that we have here is kind of the flip side of that, which is one of the things I was gonna bring up, but I'll ask the question first. How does affordable housing benefit the community? So you talked about how it helps the people who are in affordable housing, but how does it help everybody else in the community?

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Well, again, like I said earlier, about the the resources. Yeah, you're not spending more on resources and services, and because not that all reduces because you have people interested in stable housing. You don't have people on the street, you don't have we're spending more money with people that are on the street or in shelters.

SPEAKER_06 29:22

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 29:23

So it it kind of you're not saving, but you can use that money for something else. That's right. Whatever you save on, you can apply it to something else, you know, and use it for for other services. Absolutely. More veterans, more, you know, elderly, whatever it is you want to use it on.

SPEAKER_05 29:35

So I I also think that it it creates good neighbors. Oh, definitely. I mean, when you know you think about it, when your neighbors don't have to worry about their housing costs or don't have to worry about whether they're gonna get kicked out on the street or where they're gonna live or any of that, neighbors are better. Yep. You know, I mean, you know, crime goes down, people aren't as desperate, people aren't out there looking for things, they're not bothering other people, they're not trying to get stuff. It it basically makes the community stronger and better because it allows people to have less stress in their community overall. And that's what we all want. We all want good neighbors, we all want, you know, people in their homes, we all want people, you know, uh living really good lives. And that's what I think affordable housing allows people to do in the community, and it makes it better for everybody else. For everybody, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:30

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 30:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:31

I wish more people see that.

SPEAKER_05 30:33

Yeah, absolutely. I agree.

SPEAKER_02 30:34

All right, so it's time uh to get inspired by our quote of the week. Uh so this quote comes from former President Barack Obama. Uh, decent affordable housing should be a basic right for every American. That's it.

SPEAKER_05 30:46

Well, we could do a whole podcast on that one day. Um and and in fact, you know, this one uh obviously we're talking about affordable housing, and we're we're we want to we wanted to try to explain it to people and talk about you know the pros and the cons of it and and things like that. But should it be a basic right for every American? I think so. I think you think so. Uh obviously the former president Barack Obama said this and and he believes it should be. The question is, how do we get to that point? I mean, that's really what it comes down to is getting there. I I don't think people are opposed necessarily to people being in housing. I think they're opposed to some of the ways that they think it happens. You know, we hear people talking about, oh, well, you can't just give them free housing and then, you know, not do any they're not gonna do anything, blah, blah, blah. Which is never the case, by the way. Almost every program that we have, people have to pay a portion of the rent. Um they just can't pay the whole rent in most cases with subsidized housing we're talking about. And so should it be a basic right? Yes, it should be a basic right. Again, there are certain things that we hopefully can agree: housing, food, health care, you know, security, those things should be basic rights for every single person that's here, especially in the United States, because we have the money for this.

SPEAKER_02 32:18

It's a it's the it's regardless of your income, regardless of what your status of where everyone has needs that right. It's a human right. It's a human right.

SPEAKER_05 32:27

There's basic things to survive from day to day, and that would make our community so much better if everybody had that availability.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_05 32:35

All right, well, that concludes our halftime. Please stay with us after this short message.

SPEAKER_01 32:44

Hello, I'm Gigi Ramirez, the Senior Director of Fundraising and Engagement here at Pathlight Home. For over 30 years, we've helped more than 8,000 people transition from homelessness to hope. But when someone moves from the streets to their own home, they often have nothing. That's why we provide immediate essentials, everything from bedding and food to soap and cookware to help them truly feel at home. Beyond housing, PathLite offers career training and supportive services, like our 12-week culinary program, helping residents gain skills, find jobs, and rebuild independence. You can be part of the story, volunteer your time, donate essential goods, or become a monthly Pathlight hero, ensuring every neighbor has a chance to thrive. Visit pathlighthome.org to donate today.

SPEAKER_02 33:44

It's now time to kick off the third quarter by highlighting the goodwill and good works in the NFL community and announcing our NFL Home Team Locks of the Week.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

So we can skip that home team locks of the week. No, no, no. Oh no, we're gonna go over that. I think we've covered that already.

SPEAKER_06 34:02

Didn't we already talk about that? I nope. Nope.

SPEAKER_02 34:04

Still on the stage. All right, so so the NFL's player spotlight this week is Safety Julian Love uh has been selected as the club's winner for the 2025 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year. Love has consistently demonstrated and commitment a commitment to serving underserved communities through a wide range of impactful initiatives. He has sponsored tuition-based scholarships for students in his alma mater, Nazareth Academy. He's donated $25,000 to supply essentials, clothing, and appliances for children in need at the Boys and Girls Club. We were just talking about kids and kind of struggling. Uh distributing uh uh coats and winter essentials to over 300 children in the at the Seattle YMCA and provided a Thanksgiving meal for 150 youth in Bellevue. Last year, his annual Julian Love Youth Football Camp welcomed over 400 participants free of charge and included more than 40,000 in gear and resource donations. He's partnered with Dick Sporting Goods to host a back-to-back school shopping event for underserved youth. In collaboration with Safeway, Love contributed 400,000 to provide SNAP benefits to Washington families and supports every mom Chicago, a nonprofit supporting expectant mothers in underserved communities.

SPEAKER_05 35:23

He's doing a lot. He's putting his money where his mouth is. I mean, oftentimes, you know, you see celebrities go to events or you know do an appearance or something like that. But he's he's putting his money where his mouth is. I mean, he's he's putting it out there. He's putting it out there, yeah. And that's great. Very good.

SPEAKER_02 35:40

All right, so now we are gonna do our lock of the weeks. So call wants to bypass us, but we have to follow the script. So uh last week, uh Carl had Houston versus New England.

SPEAKER_05 35:53

Yeah, and got the win.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

New England won. Like we were talking about, there was a kind of sloppy game on both sides.

SPEAKER_05 35:58

Very sloppy game.

SPEAKER_02 36:00

Uh so you're uh eight and thirteen. Oh, you got two more points. Good for you, good for you. Good for you. Uh and I had the Bills versus the Broncos. The Broncos defeated the Bills, which is surprising.

SPEAKER_06 36:12

I know.

SPEAKER_02 36:12

Um, and I'm at a whopping 13-8.

SPEAKER_06 36:15

13 and 8.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

And the season's almost over. This is man.

SPEAKER_06 36:18

I'm gonna have to make the Super Bowl worth 10 points or something, baby, to try and catch up here.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

All right, that's fine.

SPEAKER_06 36:24

So this week we have two games.

SPEAKER_05 36:26

That's right.

SPEAKER_02 36:27

Uh so you have New England versus Denver.

SPEAKER_05 36:29

Yep, I got Denver at home, and they lost their quarterback, and that's gonna be a hard game. But we'll see. We'll see how it comes out.

SPEAKER_02 36:38

And I have the LA Rams. I don't know if you heard earlier, but they defeated the Chicago Bears.

SPEAKER_05 36:44

No, I didn't hear that. No, you didn't hear that. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 36:45

So yeah, they defeated the Bears, but we have are they going against Seattle? Um, and my team is Seattle that I'm picking for that. So we'll see who that is.

SPEAKER_05 36:52

I think Seattle looked really, really good. Man, they crushed San Francisco. They did. That was a whooping, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:59

Yep. But maybe, yeah, I think maybe 10 points for the Super Bowl might be a see how, see how you feel.

SPEAKER_05 37:05

Do I get first pick?

SPEAKER_02 37:08

The way your score is and the way your fantasy football went this year, go right ahead.

SPEAKER_05 37:12

All right, okay, good, good, good. We'll see how that goes. Yep, so we'll see. All right, well, stay tuned for our wrap-up after this message.

SPEAKER_02 37:23

Hello, I'm Daniel Arroyo, Vice President of Programs at Pathlight Home. If you're new to our mission, welcome. We're dedicated to changing the lives of those experiencing homelessness since hardship through housing, support services, and career training. What began as one dream for a compassionate solution to homelessness has become a reality. Since our funding, we've provided housing for more than 8,000 people, offering shelter, opportunity, and hope. This month, as we honor National Homeless Awareness Month, we are also kicking off our end-of-year campaign, a time to come together and give back. Every contribution, whether monetary or in kind, directly supports our residents and the community we serve. No gift is too small to make a difference. As we celebrate our journey from dream to reality, thank you for being part of this mission. Together we can make the dream of ending homelessness a reality in our community. Welcome to the fourth quarter where we will wind down this episode by reflecting on a homelessness MVP and fumble of the week before wrapping up with our key takeaway.

SPEAKER_05 38:37

All right, let's start with our MVP of the week. Last week, with colder temperatures expected across Central and North Florida, counties were activated cold, counties activated cold weather and warm warming shelters to protect residents who lack adequate heat or housing. These shelters provide a safe, warm place to stay overnight during periods when temperatures fall to dangerous levels. And the Fox 35 storm team anticipated lows in the 30s and 40s across all of Central Florida by Wednesday and feels like temperatures in the 20s. Shelters who participated were the sheltering tree at Rock Transformation Center in Flagler County, Life Point Church in Eustace, Barnett Park Recreation Center Gym in Orlando, Coalition for the Homeless in Orlando, Orlando Union Rescue Mission, which is right down the street from us in Orlando, First United Methodist Church in St. Cloud, Iglesia del Nazareno, Casa de Vida.

SPEAKER_02 39:44

I put that one on purpose. I heard you hear you say it.

SPEAKER_05 39:47

In Kissimmee.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

And I wanted to highlight them just to show how we all work together when it when it gets to cold night, when it gets to hurricane, and they're still doing it now. So this was last week, but we've still been in a cold front. So they are doing it. I think it was yesterday and today as well that they were opening up. So it's a lot. And there were more. There were more. So I just wanted to highlight some of the ones we know, some of the ones we work with. But yeah, it's great how they all just get together to and and another point is in Florida, it gets cold.

SPEAKER_05 40:23

I mean, you know, we we think about the northern states as the only place where there's actually cold weather. But the reality is it gets cold down here, and even you know, 30 degrees can be really, really cold outside, especially when it's wet, especially when it's windy. Yeah, all those different factors factor into it and making sure that people stay warm, stay safe. Again, we go back to that basic right of shelter, of having a place where they can get out of the elements. And you know, uh kudos to all of these programs for stepping up.

SPEAKER_02 40:55

Now, I didn't put in there either, but I want to give kudos to Lynx Bus because they coordinate all of the transportation from one location to a certain shelter that's opening up. Yeah, and they've done that forever since I've been working here.

SPEAKER_05 41:06

They give free bus rides and they give free bus rides while they're gonna cold nights.

SPEAKER_02 41:09

Yep, they just transport everybody back and forth to the location. So it's great. Absolutely. Yes. So now on to our fumble of the week. So this comes from California. Uh California counties must jump through new hoops to get homelessness funds. California governor, Newsom's administration, and the legislature are adding new strings to that money, which they hope will help address one of the state's most obvious policy failures. Despite California's large recent investment in homelessness, encampments are still rampant on the city streets. But cities and counties already are chafing under the tightening requirements, which they worry will make it harder to access uh crucial state funds without directly improving conditions on the street. To access uh state homeless housing assistance and prevention money, cities and counties are being pressured to enact a policy regarding uh regulating homelessness encampments that passes state muster. A potential challenge in a state where local jurisdictions, rules on encampments vary greatly, and many localities have no policy at all. That's okay. He provided a hypothetical model ordinance that lays out exactly what he'd like to see banned. Camping in one place for more than three nights in a row, building semi-permanent structures such as a makeshift shacks on public property and blocking streets on sidewalks.

SPEAKER_05 42:32

More than three nights in a row.

SPEAKER_02 42:34

Yeah, uh let's keep going. Uh the state also wants localities to get a pro housing designation, a special status awarded to places that go above and beyond to build housing. It's a distinction that only 60 of California's 541 cities and counties, home to just 15% of the state population, have achieved so far. 60.

SPEAKER_05 42:57

6541. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

Uh the governor said his office has been awarded $3.3 billion to create more than 5,000 residential treatment beds and more than $21,800 outpatient treatment slots across California.

SPEAKER_05 43:14

Yeah. And again, we talked about this a little bit before the uh segment, Danny. And 21,800 outpatient treatment slots for people who are homeless. So outpatient treatment, for those of you who don't know in the community, are do not put people in beds. Basically, you go into the office and you get some counseling or whatever, and then you gotta leave. Well, where are you gonna go? I mean, creating outpatient treatment slots for people who are out on the streets, what good does that do?

SPEAKER_02 43:51

So I'm gonna talk to you, I'm gonna try to guide you and help you. But by the way, we're done.

SPEAKER_05 43:55

Go back to your yeah, go back to your go back to your shack. Go back to your shack, but you can't stay there for more than. Because then we're going to move you to somewhere else. I mean, it's just these are just again, this is just another example of politicians who don't know how to solve this problem, trying to come up with these crazy ideas and these crazy ways. Again, they have this pro housing designation, and only 60 of the 541 eligible uh geographic locations are able to even meet this.

SPEAKER_02 44:26

This is this is one of the things that we talk about, me and you all the time is providers, city, county, whoever is doing all these services with no solutions.

SPEAKER_05 44:34

No solutions.

SPEAKER_02 44:35

It's like you want to put a little band-aid on it and it's not, it's not fixing the problem.

SPEAKER_05 44:39

And again, none of this speaks to anything that homeless service providers came up with. The governor's coming up with this on his own because he thinks he knows he's an expert. Right, he's an expert. He thinks he's an expert on this problem and has no idea what he's talking about. So what he needs to do is he needs to get out of the way. He needs to talk to the people who are actually serving the people and say, what is it that you need and how can we support you to be able to get people off of the street? But he's not.

SPEAKER_02 45:08

I'd love to know what his answer is if you ask him, well, what do you do after the three nights in a row? Right. I mean, I mean what they move them. Right. That's uh one place. You're moving one issue to another issue.

SPEAKER_06 45:19

Yeah, another you're just moving them around. It just doesn't make sense.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

No, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

SPEAKER_02 45:24

Go Newsome.

SPEAKER_05 45:25

Yeah, and finally, here yeah, and by the way, Governor Newsom has announced his run for presidency in 2028. So, you know, I'm sure some of the none of this has to do with that, right, Danny? I mean, you know, he doesn't want to look like it's he's hard on homelessness or anything, you know, for his political campaigns or anything. Yeah, anyway. Um, and finally, here's our key takeaway for this episode. Affordable housing is essential because it provides stability, dignity, and opportunity. When people have a safe, affordable place to live, they are healthier, more secure, and better able to work, learn, and contribute to their communities. I think the key word there is contribute. Is if you want good neighbors, if you want people who will give back to the community, if you want people who will add to the community instead of take away from the community, they need to have affordable housing. Yep. It's as simple as that.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Simple as that. I mean, that pretty much sums it up for the, you know, about what affordable housing is. It's it's to better people and make them part of the community, right? Part of the community. More more involved and volunteering and a value and add to the community.

SPEAKER_05 46:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 46:35

With less stress, with less, you know.

SPEAKER_05 46:37

Absolutely. Absolutely. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 46:39

All right, so that concludes our episode for the week. Remember, if you have any questions or comments for us, uh please email us at questions at pathlighthome.org. As always, we leave the last words for our beloved co-founder, the late Reverend Fred Maxwell. Take it away.

SPEAKER_00 46:57

I'm still dreaming. I'm still dreaming that we will become uh able and sufficient to increase uh the housing of homeless. This is merely a beginning.