- Feb 5, 2002
- 183,716
- 66,921
- Country
- United States
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Catholic
- Marital Status
- Married
- Politics
- US-Others
Soaring housing prices are quietly but powerfully discouraging young people from getting married, starting families or having more children. If you can’t afford a home, it’s easy to doubt whether you can offer your children a stable, secure life. That doubt becomes a practical barrier to family formation and, ultimately, to the flourishing of society itself.
According to the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), nearly 80% of adults under age 55 say their ideal home is a detached, single-family house. Among those who do not currently own a home but want more children, 90% also say they want to own a home. Housing insecurity is nudging many young adults into cohabitation instead of marriage — a statistically riskier path for long-term relational stability.
If, as the church teaches, the family is the fundamental building block of a healthy society, then we cannot ignore how economic structures, especially the cost of housing, influence family life. Creating a culture that supports marriage and children requires more than cultural change. It also demands material conditions that make family formation possible.
Fortunately, a movement is gaining ground that offers a hopeful way forward. Strong Towns, a nonprofit founded by Catholic civil engineer Charles Marohn, is working to reverse the decline of local communities by making them more resilient, more livable and more affordable. Their six-point plan to improve housing affordability can be a blueprint for Catholics looking to revitalize family life through local action.
Continued below.
According to the Institute for Family Studies (IFS), nearly 80% of adults under age 55 say their ideal home is a detached, single-family house. Among those who do not currently own a home but want more children, 90% also say they want to own a home. Housing insecurity is nudging many young adults into cohabitation instead of marriage — a statistically riskier path for long-term relational stability.
If, as the church teaches, the family is the fundamental building block of a healthy society, then we cannot ignore how economic structures, especially the cost of housing, influence family life. Creating a culture that supports marriage and children requires more than cultural change. It also demands material conditions that make family formation possible.
Fortunately, a movement is gaining ground that offers a hopeful way forward. Strong Towns, a nonprofit founded by Catholic civil engineer Charles Marohn, is working to reverse the decline of local communities by making them more resilient, more livable and more affordable. Their six-point plan to improve housing affordability can be a blueprint for Catholics looking to revitalize family life through local action.
Continued below.
