200,000 Rental Units Demolished Annually, Contribute to Serious Housing Affordability Squeeze
200,000 Rental Units Demolished Annually, Contribute to Serious Housing Affordability Squeeze Harvard Study Asserts
New research on rental housing market dynamics from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies finds that while the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program and other initiatives contribute over 100,000 new units of affordable rental housing each year, that is still less than the number of low-rent units disappearing.
The rental housing inventory, valued at over $2.7 trillion dollars, is big enough to support both a sizeable high-end market for luxury housing and the vast majority of the nation's lowest-income families.
Despite the continuing policy focus on the growing number of homeowners, many households have the income to purchase a home, but choose to rent because it is a lower-cost way to maintain a flexible urban lifestyle, and avoid the risk associated of investing in a potentially volatile home purchase market.
Indeed, 20 percent of renters have median annual incomes topping $60,000.
Yet, serious problems exist in the middle and lower sections of the rental market, where renters are feeling increasingly squeezed.
"Many of the nation's working poor live in older small multifamily and single-family rentals," adds Retinsas.
"But difficulty accessing the resources needed to maintain this much needed housing too often sets off a cycle of disinvestment and demolition.
The MacArthur Foundation seeks to promote the preservation of affordable rental housing across the country through a $75 million initiative to facilitate new ownership, call attention to the importance of rental housing, and stimulate new policies that preserve and expand the nation's stock of affordable rental units.
"Recent studies have found that decent, stable housing improves the ability of individuals to get and keep jobs, increases psychological and physical health, and leads to better social behavior and school achievement among children," said MacArthur President Jonathan Fanton.
