Congress is not doing anywhere near enough to help the poor meet their housing needs.

In the appropriations bill that it passed recently, Congress raised by 5 percent the amount it spends on the Section 8 housing program to subsidize rent payments. But this amount covers only a tiny fraction of those who need support.

Then Congress went in the opposite direction and cut funds for housing assistance to the disabled, the elderly and the homeless.

Housing is by far the largest expenditure for most lower- and middle-income families. Some 13 million American households must spend half or more of their income for rent or mortgage payments, according to the most recent U.S. census data. This leaves insufficient money for food, health care, transportation to work, child care and other basic needs.

Sadly, housing costs are rising far faster than incomes. To pay rent for a two-bedroom apartment in a typical metropolitan area requires an hourly wage of $15.21, reports the National Low Income Housing Coalition. That is almost three times the federal minimum wage. With the national poverty rate up for the third straight year, a decent place to live is almost unattainable for tens of millions of Americans.

Added to these financial realities is the steeply rising cost of heating fuel. Due principally to housing costs, between 2.5 million and 3.5 million people are homeless, according to most estimates. And many more are “pre-homeless,” temporarily living with relatives or friends.

Poor housing conditions contribute to serious health and safety problems, such as asthma, lead poisoning and fires.

Far too many poorly housed Americans are concentrated in minority ghettos, leading to what sociologists term “hyper-segregation.” Millions of low-income families, mainly black, are isolated from the mainstream and miss out on the contacts, job opportunities, schools and community facilities that enable social, economic and geographic mobility.

Part of the problem is old-style discrimination by landlords, Realtors, lenders, insurers and other gatekeepers. Urban Institute studies, done for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development using “paired testers,” document blatant differences in how blacks and whites seeking to buy or rent housing are treated.

Discriminatory residential patterns rob many members of minorities of the ability to accumulate wealth through rising home values. Racial wealth disparities are far larger and more significant than income disparities. Fifty-five years ago, Congress established a national housing goal of “a decent home and suitable living environment for every American family.” We have fallen woefully short of that goal. Housing ought to be a right – like free public education, Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid. Congress can – and must – do more.