The Need for Affordable Housing
Housing security is correlated to health and emotional well-being, employment prospects and economic opportunity, yet the supply of available affordable housing for low-income renters across the country is deeply inadequate. Millions of people can’t afford a place to live.
Data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) shows that no state in the US has a sufficient supply of affordable rental housing for the lowest income renters: only 36 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, resulting in cost-burdens and housing instability for millions of people (Gap Report, March 2020). In Virginia alone, there is a shortage of over 150,000 rental homes affordable and available for extremely low-income renters, a demographic that includes low-wage workers as well as people outside the labor market, like seniors, people with disabilities, and caregivers.
Still, rent costs continue to rise, widening the gap between renters’ wages and the price of decent, affordable housing.
The NLIHC estimates that a full-time worker needs to earn an hourly wage of $23.96 on average to afford a modest, two-bedroom rental home in the US, which is $16.71 higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, and $5.74 higher than the national average hourly wage of $18.22 earned by renters (Out of Reach Report, 2020).
Families experiencing housing instability are often faced with the choice between shelter and other basic needs. A 2018 study from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies revealed the sacrifices that these renters make to pay for housing: poor families with children who are severely cost-burdened (spending more than half of their income on rent and utilities) spend $354 less on food, transportation, and healthcare per month than poor families who are not housing cost-burdened.
Programs like the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) and New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) are integral to meeting the needs of low-income renters who are overlooked by a private housing market that is driven by economic incentives. As the shrinking supply of low-cost rental units continues to fuel the housing affordability crisis, VCDC’s financing solutions facilitate investment in quality affordable housing and support the economic vitality and sustainability of our communities.
For more information on the need for affordable housing visit:
The State of the Nation’s Housing from the Joint Center for Housing Studies
America’s Rental Housing 2020 Report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies
To learn more about partnering with VCDC to make an impact in the communities you serve, please contact us.
