As the economic downturn worsened last year, the nation’s poorest
households found it increasingly difficult to find housing they could
afford, according to a newly released report analyzing 2008 census data.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy group for the
poor, details in stark numbers the daunting challenges facing the
neediest households when it comes to finding low-cost shelter. Among
all income groups, there is none who have been hit harder than them,
the coalition found.
For every 100 extremely low-income households, there were 37
affordable rentals available for them last year, the census study
revealed. A year earlier, the number was 39.
While California numbers have not been formally released, an initial
analysis shows the problem for the state’s lowest-income households is
even worse than at the national level.
In 2007, there were 24 affordable units for every 100 extremely
low-income California renters. By last year, that number had fallen to
23. In all, that represents a deficit of nearly 900,000 affordable
units, said Danilo Pelletiere, research director for the National Low
Income Housing Coalition.
“California is one of the most expensive states in the country, and
that’s led to a very severe housing shortage, which is most severe for
the lowest income households,” Pelletiere said. “This crisis has done
little to relieve the burden on those households because the incomes of
those folks have fallen much faster.”
The coalition’s analysis of 2008 census data from the American
Community Survey zeroed in on what are known as the extremely low
income, defined as those households earning no more than 30 percent of
the median income. In San Diego County, that translates to an annual
income of $24,800 for a family of four.
Under federal guidelines, an affordable rent is defined as one that
does not require spending more than 30 percent of one’s income on
housing. For a four-person household earning $24,800 a year, an
affordable monthly rent for a three-bedroom apartment in San Diego
County could not exceed $644.
A recent survey of large apartment complexes in the county found
that the average monthly rent in September was $1,376, down from a high
of $1,406 a year earlier.
“We have more low-income households who can’t afford to rent here,
compared to 10 years ago, because rents grew faster than incomes, and
the problem is bigger than ever with the recession,” said Tom Scott,
executive director of the San Diego Community Housing Federation, a
coalition of local affordable-housing developers. “Folks are doubling
and tripling up and don’t have money for health care and a decent diet
for their kids. The extremely low income are the one group that’s so
hard to help.”
Most affordable-housing developers are unable to create housing to
serve the very lowest-income families because the rents such households
would pay are not enough to cover continuing operating costs.
Father Joe’s Villages is one of the few San Diego nonprofits able to
develop such housing, as increasing numbers of families and individuals
have sought refuge in the city’s homeless shelters. Over the past
decade, Father Joe Carroll said his development arm has built four
affordable-housing projects, three of which have targeted households
earning 30 percent of median income or less. Another project is
scheduled to break ground in downtown San Diego in January, Carroll
said.
“A normal stay at St. Vincent de Paul was 11, 12, 13 months, and now
it’s almost a full two years because there’s not a lot of housing for
these people,” said Carroll, president of St. Vincent de Paul Village,
a homeless-services agency.
The one reliable source of funding that has long subsidized the
rents of the nation’s poorest households is the federal Section 8
program, which allows qualified renters to find housing in the private
marketplace. Low-income renters are required to pay roughly 30 percent
of their income toward housing, with the federal government covering
the balance.
In the city of San Diego, 14,000 households receive Section 8
Housing Choice vouchers, but as a testament to the demand, there is a
waiting list of 40,000, according to the San Diego Housing Commission,
which administers the program for the city.
“I think Housing Choice vouchers are the best federal low-income
housing program the country has ever had,” said Housing Commission
Chief Executive Rick Gentry. “It provides a deep subsidy and utilizes
the marketplace as a resource. If I had my choice of all the programs
to increase it would be the Section 8 program, but it is expensive.”
Over the past decade, there have been few increases in the program’s
funding, Gentry said, and while he’s optimistic, he doubts there will
be a substantial boost in Section 8 vouchers. Agencies like the
commission are unable to finance deeply subsidized new housing units
for the poor because of the lack of funding to cover daily operating
costs, he said.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is hoping its census
analysis will be compelling fodder in trying to persuade Congress to
infuse an already approved National Housing Trust Fund with much needed
capital.
The coalition and other affordable-housing advocates are urging an
allocation of $1 billion, which would be enough to finance the
immediate construction of 10,000 rental homes.
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