Time to Act: How we can tackle the Affordable Housing Crisis
Housing affordability is one of the biggest problems affecting our society today.
Some industry experts claim the concept of affordable housing itself is flawed. Many maintain it has failed because of poor management. Others believe that government subsidies are ineffective and counterproductive.
So how can we help solve the complex problem of housing affordability?
Rising Rents Drive Eviction Epidemic in the U.S., Further Complicating the Affordable Housing Crisis
Eviction Vicious Cycle Crushes Families, Communities and Entire Neighborhoods.
Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City," written by Harvard sociologist Matthew Desmond, put the spotlight on the extreme hardships and trauma that evictions inflict on low-income families.
A new study by real estate website Redfin estimates that 2.7 million renters in the U.S. faced in 2015. This number is likely to come short of reality because of the lack of eviction data and because many evictions happen outside the court system.
Affordable Housing Lessons from Abroad
How Other Countries Are Tackling Their Affordable Housing Problem
While the U.S. continues to experience a stubborn housing crisis, it could learn a thing or two from other countries that are managing their affordable housing issues more effectively.
Unaffordability in the U.S.
An increasing number of Americans are struggling to pay the rent, an estimated 2.5 million of them getting evicted each year. Evidently, government programs designed to help low-income folks get adequate, affordable housing are failing or not doing enough to put a dent on the affordable housing crisis.
Why Affordable Housing Hasn’t Worked and How to Start Fixing It
There's no quick fix for the affordable housing crisis, but we can begin to change that.
Housing affordability is one of the biggest problems affecting our society today, one that is difficult to define and even more difficult to solve—hence our current affordable housing crisis.
There is not enough affordable housing in the United States. For every 100 low-income households in need of affordable housing, there are 29 adequate, available units, according to Mapping America, a project by the Urban Land Institute's Assisted Housing Initiative.
How Planned Tax Cuts Could Deepen Affordable Housing Crisis
President Trump’s election has affordable housing developers on pins and needles and numerous U.S. cities and housing advocates predicting disaster.
The newly elected president’s pledge to cut the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 15 percent has prompted large banks and other investors to back away from tax credits that reduce their tax burden in exchange for investing in low-income housing projects.