It’s been a while that the United States has witnessed the affordable housing crisis. It has impacted Americans all through the income spectrum says Maxwell Drever. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition in 2018, the renters who work for about 40 hours weekly and earn a minimum wage can’t afford a generic two-bedroom apartment.
Some of the high-earning earners in the costly coastal cities today have to struggle with rent. Close to two-thirds of the renters all across the nation report that they aren’t able to purchase a house. Additionally, saving for the down payment isn’t going to be easy. The house costs are expected to increase double than the income growth. Also, according to other research was conducted in 2016, close to half the renters got cost-burdened.
A look at the economy and housing market
According to Maxwell Drever, even as the economy carries on to expand and the housing market starts to rebound from the Great Recession, Americans witness an increasing inequality. Many people cannot pay comfortably for their housing as the house prices are increasing and the wage growth is stagnating.
Today, most Americans are concerned about the accessibility of affordable housing. The opinions about housing affordability usually vary based on demographic factors, which include race, income, age, and ethnicity. A massive section of the adults who reside in low-income households report that the accessibility of affordable housing is a primary problem in the community, that is more than the shares of upper- and middle-income families, for whom it’s a crucial problem. It’s mainly because a huge section of these people had to live in the rural and suburban areas because of the lack of affordable housing in the urban areas.
The adults who are under the age of 50 have a chance than other older counterparts to share that the availability of affordable housing is a crucial problem. Over half of the adult ages, between 18 and 29 and 30 and 49, reports this, compared to the smaller shares of the ones between 50 and 64 and then 65 years and older.
Taking a look at the problem and resolving it
Arriving at a solution for the affordable housing crisis is not an easy task. Today, even though housing is a basic human need. The problem of affordable housing is constantly increasing and is becoming challenging for most Americans. The housing gets consider “affordable” when it consumes less than 30% of the household’s overall income. Close to 43 million of the renter household in the United States. Are the ones who belong to the cost-burdened housing category. It means they are spending over 30% of their income on their housing. Today, most cost-burdened renters will spend more than half of their earnings on housing.
Also, the absence of sufficient affordable housing can hurt the community. The families who undergo this condition witness increased stress linked to retirement, healthcare, food security, social stability, and transportation. Hence, according to Maxwell Drever, governments and other concerned authorities need to come up with grants and funding programs to develop more low-cost housing units for the workforce population.