The Biden administration’s announcement this week of a plan to close the affordable housing supply gap in five years—in part a response to rising inflation, unsustainable housing costs for many Americans, and other economic pressures—is an attempt to blaze a path forward as we combat the affordable housing crisis.
Adding to earlier short-term fixes like emergency rental assistance and eviction moratoria, the plan goes upstream, encouraging creative land-use and zoning decisions, instructing agencies like the Department of Transportation to incorporate housing priorities into their plans, and asking Congress to unlock new funds to support housing development.
It’s that kind of ardent approach that we must demand and embrace in our quest for supplying sufficient affordable housing for all Americans. And now, as the economy takes a turn and rents are on the rise, it’s the only viable path forward for making up the shortfall of affordable homes in America.
Let’s start with one of the most visible manifestations of the affordable housing crisis: homelessness. The growing number of people experiencing homelessness on our streets each night—and the racial inequities that put Black people and other people of color at greatest risk of becoming homeless—are consequences of systemic breakdowns: the failure of the housing system being most salient.
Yet local governments are flailing—scrambling to increase shelter capacity or directing resources into temporary housing—all while failing to view homelessness as a symptom of deeper shortcomings in our housing system and in turn missing some of the most effective potential solutions.
We know what works. Housing combats homelessness, and while there is a need to provide people with temporary shelters and beds and provide services, we need to move beyond transitional housing models to ensure we’re setting communities up for future success. Simply put, for every dollar we spend on creating homeless shelters, we should spend five on housing.
President Biden’s plan does much to increase funds to provide supportive housing and other mechanisms for giving millions a safe, stable place to live. It proposes increasing funding for tax credits and other programs that both build and preserve affordable housing; it calls for a streamline of financing to accelerate construction and development; it supports federal agency coordination toward leveraging resources; and it directs assets toward trusted partners who prioritize enriched housing and services. These resources can be even more purposeful when directed to the communities most in need, and the developers and mission-driven entities who are committed to addressing the racial and economic disparities in the country’s housing market.
But we can—and must—go further upstream. Even if we can increase the number of homes and ensure affordable rents, families are still bracing themselves for unforeseen costs that can lead to crises. A surprise hospital bill or a spike in child care costs can mean the difference between making rent and ending up on the brink of homelessness.
Policymakers should try to get ahead of displacements in the first place by putting people first. This could mean limiting late fees for tenants, providing rainy-day subsidies for families that miss a few rent payments, or expanding funding for the federally funded Housing Choice Voucher program, capping housing costs for low-income families. In short, we need to strengthen the foundation, quite literally, for low- and middle-income families who are on the cliff’s edge of housing instability.
We also need to support “mom-and-pop” property owners who make up a plurality of unsubsidized and accessible affordable housing providers in this country. They face rising material, labor, and insurance costs—not to mention the higher chance of costly fires, storms, and floods due to the looming threat of climate change.
They, too, need support amid economic uncertainty. That can include property tax abatements in return for affordability guarantees; those programs save housing providers money and keep rents down. Lenders can provide small lines of credit to allow homeowners to make critical repairs and keep rents low. And pilot programs like the one Fannie Mae is running in Texas and North Carolina can give financing discounts to apartment building owners willing to accept residents who receive housing vouchers.
The Biden administration’s plan is a bold pathway toward meeting the housing needs of this country and bringing solutions to scale. Creating more affordable housing is the single-most effective way to improve the lives of all Americans. Our housing system should include a wide range of equitable interventions that can be taken before a crisis hits, as the historical lack of investment and imagination causes widespread suffering, particularly for communities of color who bear the brunt of inaction.
We have a road map for halting the housing crisis. It’s time we start down a path toward more stable, supportive, and thriving communities for millions of Americans who deserve better.
