Federal government action key to exacerbating our affordable housing
Aurand et al 23 - (Andrew Aurand is Senior Vice President for Research at NLIHC. He leads NLIHC’s research team in documenting the housing needs of low-income renters. Dan Emmanuel is a senior research analyst at NLIHC and worked in a range of housing and community development contexts, with a particular focus on program evaluation and community needs assessment. Matthew Clarke is Writer/Editor at NLIHC. A member of the communications team, Matthew advances the Coalition’s mission by providing technical writing and editing support to staff on major publications, external and internal communications, and development efforts. Ikra holds a BFA in arts and visual technology from George Mason University. Diane Yentel is the President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a membership organization dedicated to achieving racially and socially equitable public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes have quality homes that are accessible and affordable in communities of their choice Diane is a leading national expert on housing insecurity and homelessness and works closely with members of Congress, the White House, numerous federal agencies, and partners and allies throughout the country. Emma Foley is a research Analyst at the GAP) March 2023, “The GAP A Shortage of Affordable Homes”, National Low Income Housing Coalition, https://www.nlihc.org/sites/default/files/gap/Gap-Report_2023.pdf //mish
Eliminating the affordable housing shortage will require a long-term federal commitment to investing in new affordable housing, preserving affordable rental homes that already exist, bridging the gap between household incomes and rent through universal rental assistance, providing emergency assistance to stabilize renters when they experience financial shocks, and incentivizing reductions in zoning regulations that limit affordable housing development. Reductions in federal appropriations for critical housing assistance programs that serve renters with extremely low incomes will only exacerbate our affordable housing crisis and push even more families into housing instability and homelessness. Budget cuts not only exacerbate the problem but can generate negative long-term effects that are difficult to reverse. Increases to HUD’s appropriations in recent years, for example, have not entirely made up for the cuts experienced by HUD during the first years of budget caps under the “Budget Control Act of 2011” (BCA). Between fiscal year (FY) 2011 and FY2017, HUD experienced seven consecutive years of real budget cuts after accounting for inflation (Figure 12). HUD’s cumulative appropriations during this time were $27 billion less than if HUD’s annual appropriations had remained at FY2010 levels, adjusted only for inflation. Even with significant increases in HUD’s appropriations in recent years, HUD’s cumulative appropriations since FY2010 are still slightly lower than if annual appropriations had remained at FY2010 levels. To fully address the shortage of affordable rental housing for renters with extremely low incomes, Congress must increase funding for both preserving the stock of existing affordable housing and increasing the supply of deeply affordable units. Proposed legislation like the “American Housing and Economic Mobility Act” (“S.1368” in the 117th Congress) would address the shortage of affordable rental homes for extremely low-income renters through an investment of nearly $45 billion annually in the national Housing Trust Fund. The bill also includes resources to repair public housing, build or rehabilitate housing in tribal and Native Hawaiian communities, and create and preserve affordable homes in rural areas. Congress must also increase resources for rental assistance through Housing Choice Vouchers or a renters’ tax credit. While vouchers alone do not increase the supply of housing, they help address the shortage of affordable and available units for extremely low-income renters by allowing them to afford moderately priced units. The “Ending Homelessness Act of 2021” (“H.R.4496” in the 117th Congress), for example, proposed to establish a universal voucher program that would enable all eligible households to receive rental assistance. The bipartisan “Family Stability and Opportunity Vouchers Act” (“S.1991” in the 117th Congress) would create 500,000 housing vouchers specifically targeted to low-income families with young children and provide mobility counseling services to help families find housing options in neighborhoods of their choice.