Catholic Charities USA Names New Legislative Liaison for Housing Issues

Catholic Charities USA
Thursday, 28 February 2002

Lynette Engelhardt Stott, a former senior domestic policy analyst with Bread for the World, has joined Catholic Charities USA as its new legislative liaison for housing.

Working with leaders of Catholic Charities-sponsored housing programs throughout the country, she will develop legislative proposals for new ways that the federal government can provide additional resources to nonprofit religious and community-based organizations to increase the supply of affordable rental housing for low and moderate income Americans.

In 2001 alone, Catholic Charities agencies provided housing counseling services to more than 21,000 people in search of affordable housing and sponsored or managed 8,449 units of permanent housing in their communities, such as single rooms, apartments, and single family residences. Ninety-six percent of the housing local Catholic Charities provided was targeted to low-income families.

"There is a critical shortage of safe and affordable housing in this country," Stott said. "In many communities, high rental costs are forcing more families to pay half or more of their incomes for very modest, even substandard housing. Only the federal government has the resources for the type of major investment needed to solve a problem of this magnitude."

Stott, an Iowa native, is a 1993 graduate of the University of Iowa. Prior to joining Catholic Charities USA, she worked for eight years at Bread for the World—a nationwide Christian citizens movement seeking to end hunger.

In that position, Stott coordinated Bread for the World's domestic policy efforts to enact government policies that support economic opportunity and a strong safety net, including food stamps and other nutrition programs. She also co-chaired the Food Policy Working Group, a coalition of faith-based organizations working on domestic hunger issues and led Bread for the World's last three domestic legislative campaigns, including the 2000 campaign, which helped win $1.6 billion in federal food stamp restorations.

Catholic Charities USA's members--1,640 local agencies and institutions nationwide--provide help and create hope for more than nine million people a year regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds. For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Charities USA, see their website at: www.catholiccharitiesusa.org