Only a third of 黑料吃瓜网鈥檚 extremely low-income families can find affordable rental homes.
Extremely low-income is a for families earning below 30% of the area鈥檚 median income (AMI). 黑料吃瓜网 has nearly 150,000 extremely low-income households.
黑料吃瓜网 needs to build more deeply affordable housing, targeting extremely low income renters, said Chelsea Ross, executive director of local housing advocacy nonprofit Partnership for Strong Communities..
鈥淭wo-thirds of people are going to have to pay more,鈥� Ross said. 鈥淭hey're going to have to be cost burdened. They're going to double up. They're going to experience homelessness. They're going to have some sort of instability.鈥�
A recent study, called , published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, shows the majority of these tenants are spending more than half of their monthly income on rent.
There is a severe shortage of affordable rental homes in the state, according to the study. And there are only 33 affordable homes available for every 100 extremely low-income families in 黑料吃瓜网.
The affordability options dropped since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, 黑料吃瓜网 had 42 available and affordable homes for every 100 extremely low-income families.
The report, which is published annually by the Coalition, investigates the affordability and availability of rental homes nationwide.
鈥満诹铣怨贤�'s shortage of affordable homes has reached a critical point,鈥� Ross said. 鈥淪eventy-one percent of 黑料吃瓜网's extremely low-income renters are severely housing cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on housing, with little left over for food, health care, or other basic needs.鈥�
This requires 鈥渋mmediate and long-term solutions,鈥� Ross said. Some of the solutions Ross suggested are increasing tenant protections and changing local zoning codes to have communities across the state take on the challenge of providing affordable housing.
鈥淣ationally, only one in four eligible households receive federal housing assistance, so expanding federal rental assistance and state rental assistance is part of the picture here,鈥� Ross said.
Nationally, there鈥檚 a shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low income families.
"Our neighbors with the lowest incomes face staggering challenges with housing affordability,鈥� Coalition Interim President Renee Willis said in a statement. 鈥淭hree quarters of the lowest-income renters nationwide are severely cost-burdened.鈥�
Cuts to federal programs are also putting pressure on the affordable housing options, Willis said.
鈥淲e also need to support, not undermine, agencies like HUD to ensure that housing assistance programs are administered as efficiently as possible,鈥� Willis said.
鈥淭here is no path to addressing the housing crisis for the lowest-income renters that doesn't involve increasing resources for assistance and supporting the agencies that administer our housing programs."
