Press release: Rhode Island continues to fall short in providing affordable homes for low-income renters
“We are still not producing enough homes affordable to residents with the lowest incomes, leaving families without the stability they need to thrive."
From a press release:
A new report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) finds that there are just 54 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income households in Rhode Island.
The report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, also reveals a national shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renter households – those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of their area median income, whichever is greater – resulting in just 35 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households nationwide.
That’s a gap of 23,222 affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renters in Rhode Island.
These findings come amidst ongoing attacks on federal housing resources.
“The annual Gap report reflects what too many Rhode Islanders are living every day: rents that stretch paychecks beyond their limits and impossible choices between housing, food, medicine, and other basic needs,” said Melina Lodge, Executive Director of the Housing Network of Rhode Island.1 “We are still not producing enough homes affordable to residents with the lowest incomes, leaving families without the stability they need to thrive. At a time when federal housing resources are increasingly uncertain, we must recommit to reversing decades of underinvestment and restrictive land use policies and expand deeply affordable housing so people can count on a safe, stable place to call home.”
Released annually, The Gap investigates the affordability and availability of rental homes for households of different income levels nationwide. The supply of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households remains deeply inadequate nationwide and in Rhode Island.
As a result, 70% of extremely low-income renters in Rhode Island are housing cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing.
Of Rhode Island’s 50,063 extremely low-income renters, 55% are severely housing-cost burdened, spending more than half of their income on housing, leaving little left over for food, health care, and other basic necessities.
“The GAP report highlights some facts in our most recent Housing Fact Book,” said Brenda Clement, Executive Director of HousingWorks RI2 at Roger Williams University. “For the first time, Rhode Island renters need an income that exceeds the median renter income ($48,434) to affordably rent anywhere in the state. Similarly, homeownership is out of reach. Even with an income of $100,000, potential homebuyers are priced out of homeownership opportunities throughout Rhode Island. High housing costs and high rates of housing cost burden (1/3 of Rhode Islanders) continue to pose significant threats to residents wellbeing and economic security.”
The private market, without subsidy, is unable to provide an adequate supply of housing affordable to the lowest-income renters. What extremely low-income renters can afford to pay for rent does not cover the development and operating costs of new housing, and it is often insufficient to provide an incentive for landlords to maintain older housing.
The result is a systemic shortage of affordable housing for extremely low-income renters, impacting nearly every community, including in Rhode Island.
Subsidies are needed to produce new affordable housing, preserve existing affordable housing, or subsidize the difference between what the lowest-income renters can afford to pay and market rents.
“The findings from The Gap show that no state or major metropolitan area has an adequate supply of affordable and available homes for extremely low-income renters,” said NLIHC President and CEO Renee M. Willis. “It is a sad fact that only one in four households that qualify for housing assistance receive it. When renters are housing cost-burdened, they cannot afford to cover other basic necessities such as food, healthcare, transportation, or childcare. Congress has the solutions to increase housing affordability across the country. They must support robust housing assistance programs that can alleviate the housing crisis and ensure the wellbeing of millions of the lowest-income renters.”
It is not as if you really like this article, it is more connoting that it is an issue worth highlighting and thank you for highlighting it. In my new book I point out that the prvate sector fails the task, of building enough housing and does not really want it. That means it is up to the goverbnment to build enough housing that it impacts the private market and brings priices down. The money for government housing dried up due to a concerted effort by landlords and allies to end government built housing so they could jack up the rents. it is time RI stopped relying on bondsdto build housing and put it into the budget along with healthcare, police, clean water. Then we need to tax the rich to pay for it, which will beneifit the rich along with the rest of us. HIstory shows quite clearly that taxing the rich is good for the economy, and that while their percentage of the overall income goes down, the absolute value of their holdings and income increase. more than yours does.