The Unaffordable Housing Crisis
Nearly half of all renters can't afford rent, and over half a million Americans are homeless on any given night.
The number of households with “worst-case housing needs” – that is, households with very low incomes that either pay more than half their income for rent or live in severely substandard housing, and receive no aid – has risen by 66% since 2001 (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2017).
"People of color are more likely than white people to be extremely low-income renters. Twenty percent of Black households, 17% of American Indian or Alaska Native households, 15% of Hispanic households, and 10% of Asian households are extremely low-income renters. Only 6% of white non-Hispanic households are extremely low-income renters.” (NLIHC, 2020).
A lack of affordable housing drives homelessness. People become homeless when they cannot afford a place to live. Because of a history of discrimination, people of color are most acutely impacted by the housing affordability crisis and therefore make up a disproportionate share of the homeless population. For example, African Americans make up 40% of the homeless population despite only representing 13% of the general population. (NAEH, 2020).
“While the private market has never been able to produce an adequate supply of homes for extremely low-income households, the growth of low-wage work exacerbates the problem. Seven of the ten occupations projected to experience the greatest growth over the next decade provide median hourly wages that are insufficient for full-time workers to afford modest apartments.” (NLIHC, 2020).
It is remarkable the amount of taxpayer dollars we could save if we had more supportive housing options for the people that we see on our city's streets. Most of us don't realize that the average cost to use emergency and other city services for a homeless individual is around $40,000 per year - paid by the taxpayer. I hope that our city leaders can help provide more of the essential housing needed for our citizens.