The housing market has become increasingly bleak over the past several decades. Now more than ever, there’s a growing need to create affordable and sustainable housing that will benefit individuals and families who are being closed off from homeownership and prevented from accessing affordable rents.

Problems for Affordable Housing Providers

Housing authorities and nonprofit organizations that offer subsidized housing have been completely shut out of a growing number of areas. People with mobile vouchers simply can’t live in certain areas because there are no rentals available that fall within the scope of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s established fair market rental values. Creating affordable housing solutions in these areas will make it possible for people to live in the areas where they work.

Housing Programs in Jeopardy

The GOP has unabashedly presented a discriminatory agenda to eliminate housing subsidies to people who need them to remain housed. In fact, the President has recently bragged and sought praise via Twitter for rescinding the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule that was established to prevent discrimination and preserve affordable housing. Private enterprises can create solutions where political leaders have imposed obstacles by constructing affordable homes that can be rented or owned at a reasonable price.

Benefits of Affordable Alternatives

Rehabbing an older multifamily or apartment building can be cost-prohibitive. Doing any type of permitted work may trigger the need to bring an entire building up to code, which may simply be infeasible in many instances. Newly constructed affordable housing that will be immediately ready for occupancy can create solutions in areas where affordable housing has been totally marginalized.

Affordable housing construction can benefit individuals who have not been able to realize their goals of individual homeownership, developers who want to create inclusive and affordable housing, and community development corporations who are working to end homelessness. Affordable design concepts ensure that housing can be constructed quickly, and ongoing maintenance will be manageable.