Federal Government has tools now to increase affordable housing – key to solving inequality
Green et al 2021 – (Kaye-Alese Green- Green received her bachelor’s degree in psychology and master’s degree in urban education and public health from the University of Central Florida and joined the racism in Medicine Vertical Integration Group (VIG), Allison Bovell-Ammon is the Director of Policy and Communications and leads federal policy work of Children’s HealthWatch as well as health care systems integration of housing and food. Megan Sandel, MD, is a professor of pediatrics at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine as well as a professor of environmental health at the Boston University School of Public Health.) 8/18/21, "Housing and Neighborhoods as Root Causes of Child Poverty," Academic Pediatrics, https://www.academicpedsjnl.net/article/S1876-2859(21)00437-X/fulltext//mish
The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s provided momentum for the creation and enforcement of equitable housing practices via the Fair Housing Act of 1968. This law prohibited discrimination on the basis of color, race, religion, and national origin in most real estate transactions, and established a moral and legal precedent for the banking and housing sector.12,15 Unfortunately, this pivotal law was often poorly enforced due to societal pressures to maintain the established racial hierarchy.12,15 The impact of racial residential segregation was compounded by systematic disinvestment in housing by the federal government in the late 20th century. The federal government has tools to address the needs of renters including the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which offers a tax incentive to developers to produce affordable housing, and the Housing Choice Voucher program, which provides rental subsidies to increase affordability for renters. These programs, however, are underfunded, in contrast to the mortgage interest deduction, which enables homeowners to deduct mortgage payments from their tax burden. As a result, deep inequities in wealth accumulation persist between predominately white homeowners and renters of color.16 This disinvestment intersected with a decreased low-income housing stock, and increasing cost for housing.10,16 These inequities were compounded by the Great Recession of the late-2000s that led to a rapid decline in homeownership and increase in renters, with the largest increase occurring in low-income households.16 The impact of the economic downturn and stagnant HUD funding restricted the sustainable pathways for low-income renters to secure affordable housing16 and led to an increased number of cost burdened renters (those who are paying greater than 30% of their income for rent) which rose from 14.8 million to 21.3 million from 2001 to 2014.16 It also led to an increased number of severely burdened households (those who are paying greater than 50% of their income for rent) which rose from 7.5 million to 11.4 million in the same time period.16 The economic downturn had a disparate burden on families and communities of color.16