I don’t think it would surprise you if I said that people experiencing homelessness need housing. But did you know that we aren’t going to meet that need without your help?
In fact, research shows that there is a powerful connection between homelessness and access to housing that is affordable. Recent research sponsored by Zillow found that areas with the most severe housing affordability issues account for 47% of all people experiencing homelessness in the United States but only 15% of the country’s total population.
And affordability challenges are actually everywhere. The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2019 report The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes estimates that there is a deficit of 7 million rental homes across the country for households whose incomes are less than 30% of the median in their communities.
Lack of stable housing affects people’s health, education, and employment throughout their lives, and it affects the futures of their children and even their grandchildren. In order to give people a fair chance to prosper, our communities must have enough housing for everyone. And the most deeply affordable units within communities must be tied directly to efforts to prevent and end homelessness.
That’s where we need your help—to join forces with your local homelessness leaders so that we can end homelessness together. Here are some ways to start:
1. Strengthen partnerships with homelessness system Continuums of Care (CoCs), public housing agencies (PHAs), health institutions, local governments, and others who are invested in reducing homelessness.
By partnering with CoCs and PHAs, you may be able to access project-based or tenant-based housing vouchers and/or rental assistance for prospective tenants, along with supportive services that will help ensure that they are good tenants and neighbors. Weaving together homelessness and housing resources will help you create financially feasible deals that include set-asides for households exiting homelessness and units for extremely low-income households.
To increase the feasibility of proposed developments, reach out to health institutions and local governments, which are increasingly interested in making direct financial investments in housing that will reduce homelessness and the costs related to homelessness. And local governments may expedite permitting, reduce parking or other requirements, waive certain fees, or provide other incentives for developers addressing this need.
2. Explore how your state housing finance agency (HFA) incentivizes the preservation and development of units for households at the lowest income levels, including those exiting homelessness. For instance, by analyzing the HFA’s qualified allocation plan (QAP) for low-income housing tax credit distributions, you may find scoring incentives, prioritization of set-asides, and specific requests for applications for developments that include units for the lowest income households and those exiting homelessness. CSH provides a QAP analysis for supportive housing, and a similar analysis can be done for much-needed mainstream affordable housing.
In addition, many HFAs distribute funding from state housing trust funds and similar sources, which can be used as gap financing for deals that might not otherwise pencil out, including developing housing for the lowest income renters or those with histories of homelessness. Many state HFAs recognize the link between homelessness and housing affordability, and they have the tools that can make a real impact.
3. Take steps to ensure fair access to units for people with histories of homelessness and other housing barriers.
In most communities, it’s extremely difficult for a household that has experienced homelessness to obtain housing—even in housing developments funded with affordable housing dollars or operated by affordable housing providers. These households are often screened out through overly strict tenant screening practices.
With some simple changes, housing owners and operators can protect their investments while making housing accessible to those that need it most. You could choose, for instance, to shorten the look-back periods related to evictions, criminal records, and credit histories. And you could create individualized processes for those with disabilities or histories of homelessness that take into account services in which the household may be engaged or changes in circumstance.
Some communities have risk mitigation funds or similar policies in place to help ensure that housing owners/operators are protected in the case of damage or a broken lease. In the communities where they are available, these funds are almost never used, however. It turns out that tenants exiting homelessness are no more risky than any other tenant.
These are just a few ways you can help end homelessness in your community. Learn more in the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness’ Aligning Affordable Housing Efforts with Action to End Homelessness resource.
