Housing Providers Build Bridges Over the Digital Divide

The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated an already steady shifting of essential services online—with 90 percent of U.S. adults saying the internet has been either essential or important to them, and 40 percent reporting that they have used technology in new ways over the last two years. As a result, access to a high-speed internet connection and a fully capable device has become an essential lifeline to support health, stability, and economic well-being.

But for millions of people—a disproportionate number of whom are people of color—lack of access to connectivity has deepened health and economic inequities. Approximately 28.2 million (nearly 23 percent) of all households in the United States do not have high-speed broadband. While the lack of broadband infrastructure plays a significant role in this, 18.1 million of those households are not online because they cannot afford an available internet connection. The divide is starker among affordable housing residents, where about one-third of households lack home internet access, 80 percent of whom are unconnected because of affordability.

Given the growth of building-wide connectivity solutions, the ability to build and leverage trusted relationships between residents, onsite staff, and service partners to devise solutions, and the new resources available from the federal government, affordable housing and community development organizations are well positioned to narrow this digital divide.

Many organizations are implementing companywide mandates or have incorporated digital access into their strategic plans. For example, National Church Residences has integrated into its strategic plan an ambitious goal to ensure that 90 percent of the residents in its affordable housing communities have access to affordable internet service in their homes by 2025. “The digital road map is ..."