Abstract
The lack of affordable housing is the number one cause of homelessness in the USA. Research shows that housing, more than any other factor, brings residential stability for low-income families and people who are living on the streets with chronic mental illness and/or addiction. This chapter reviews the benefits of affordable housing beyond ending homelessness and describes varied policy solutions to develop and preserve more affordable housing or make the existing housing stock more affordable for low-income families.
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Notes
- 1.
The housing wage is available for every state, metropolitan area, and zip code.
- 2.
The area median income (AMI) is the income level within a particular jurisdiction within which half of all household incomes in that area fall above and half of all household incomes in that area fall below. HUD considers households whose income is 30% of the AMI are considered “extremely low income.” Those with incomes at 50% of the AMI are considered very low income, and households with incomes at 80% of AMI are considered low income.
- 3.
Renter wage is the mean hourly wage earned by US renters derived from the Bureau of Labor statistics wage data (NLIHC 2017a).
- 4.
- 5.
Proposals have been developed by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) and the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California Berkeley. Details on the CBPP proposal can be found here: http://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/renters-tax-credit-would-promote-equity-and-advance-balanced-housing-policy. The Terner Center proposal can be found here: http://ternercenter.berkeley.edu/fair-tax-credit.
- 6.
The National Community Land Trust Network offers support in pursuing this approach to affordable housing, http://cltnetwork.org/.
- 7.
The National Housing Preservation Foundation can help communities identify next steps to preserving affordable housing in their neighborhoods: http://www.nhpfoundation.org/.
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Donaldson, L.P., Yentel, D. (2019). Affordable Housing and Housing Policy Responses to Homelessness. In: Larkin, H., Aykanian, A., Streeter, C.L. (eds) Homelessness Prevention and Intervention in Social Work. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03727-7_5
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