Documenting the Affordable Housing Problem
The following publications explain and detail the need for affordable housing and the various obstacles in creating it.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
The Affordable Housing Crisis
By W. Paul Farmer, AICP, American Planning Association Executive Director.
A few years back the American Heart Association ran a successful series of public service announcements to raise awareness of the perils of high blood pressure. The spots labeled the disease "the silent killer." Today, the nation faces a public policy challenge that reminds me of high blood pressure: acute, growing, and deadly — yet for most Americans, unknown. The issue is affordable housing.
America's Neighbors: The Affordable Housing Crisis and the People it Affects
A report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition details the extent of the housing crisis, and offers vignettes of people affected by it: "The true extent of the affordable housing crisis in America has not been made explicit because it is usually measured by the number of households that have housing problems. Households are composed of individual people. When all the people who live in households with housing problems are counted, we learn that the affordable housing crisis affects far more people than some other social problems that get more media and political attention.
Assessing the Competitiveness of California’s Business Climate: Silicon Valley CEOs Speak Out
An Economic Competitiveness Survey Commissioned by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Of note: For the second consecutive year, creating affordable housing is viewed as the most significant action that the state government can take to improve the business climate.
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B
The Bottom Line: Setting the Real Standard for Bay Area Working Families
In-depth profiles of nine Bay Area counties showing the number of families in each county that are not earning enough to cover basic necessities as defined by the Self Sufficiency Standard, produced by the United Way of the Bay Area.
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D
Disabled Persons Priced Out of Housing Market
Housing people with disabilities to live in the community and achieve and sustain full participation in community life, they must have an affordable place to live—a place to call home. Unfortunately, for more than 3.7 million adults with disabilities living on federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits, the goal of having a home of one’s own—whether a small studio apartment or a single family house—has become even more impossible to achieve. In 2002, the combination of extreme poverty and record-setting rent levels continued to fuel this housing crisis in virtually every housing market in the United States. See the report by the Technical Assistance Collaborative, Inc. and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities Housing Task Force.
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E
Examining Supply-Side Constraints to Low-Income Homeownership
Given existing subsidies and affordable mortgage products, many lowincome renter households may be in a position to overcome the wealth and income constraints to buying a home. However, households may still be constrained by a lack of adequate housing units at an appropriate sales price in a desirable location. This paper focuses on three questions: (1) What are the characteristics of owneroccupied units affordable to a household earning less than 80 percent of area median income, and how do they compare to higher-value units? (2) How does the affordable owneroccupied stock change over time? (3) How does the availability and supply of affordable units affect the homeownership rate of low-income households?
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Locked Out 2004: California's Affordable Housing Crisis
California continues to suffer from a lack of housing that is affordable for even middle-income families. Workers face long commutes between housing they can afford and their jobs, and the high cost of housing leaves families with less income to spend on other necessities. The California Budget Project (CBP) has previously documented California’s housing crisis.
In recent years, substantial attention has been focused on the affordable housing problem. The 2000-01 Budget provided a significant infusion of state funds. In November 2002, voters approved Proposition 46, the Housing and Emergency Shelter Trust Fund Act of 2002, providing $2.1 billion for housing programs. The state’s fiscal crisis, however, has reduced state funds available to expand the supply of affordable housing; to meet this challenge, the Legislature has replaced program funding with bond proceeds.
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N
The New Demographics of Housing
This paper surveys the demographic changes that have been taking place in the U.S. at the end of the 20th century, and examines some of their implications for household growth and housing consumption.
Nimbyism and the Future of California
An artfully seasoned and reasoned warning about the mounting social and economic costs of Nimbyism.
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O
Ot of Reach 2005 report
The Natinoal Low Income Housing Coalition finds that San Mateo County is once again tied for the most expensive rental housing in the country. San Mateo County residents would need to earn $29.54 an hour to rent a two-bedroom residence, which is $13.76 an hour more than the national average, according to the NLIHC.
See the numbers here.
Out of Reach 2004 report
Finds SF/San Mateo/Marin have nation's most expensive housing. Despite the emphasis on homeownership and the marginalization of renters, renter households still make up fully one-third of the households in the United States – nearly 36 million households. Out of Reach is a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit of a range of sizes (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) at the area’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs. From these calculations the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford the FMR for a two bedroom home is derived. This figure is the Housing Wage.
Out of Reach 2003: America's Housing Wage Climbs
A report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition: Despite the emphasis on homeownership and the marginalization of renters, renter households still make up fully one-third of the households in the United States – nearly 36 million households. Out of Reach is a side-by-side comparison of wages and rents in every county, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), combined nonmetropolitan area and state in the United States. For each jurisdiction, the report calculates the amount of money a household must earn in order to afford a rental unit of a range of sizes (0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 bedrooms) at the area’s Fair Market Rent (FMR), based on the generally accepted affordability standard of paying no more than 30% of income for housing costs. From these calculations the hourly wage a worker must earn to afford the FMR for a two bedroom home is derived. This figure is the Housing Wage.
Overlooked and Undercounted: a report on economic self-sufficiency in California
"Overlooked and Undercounted, a New Perspective on the Struggle to Make Ends Meet in California" is a report on economic self-sufficiency provided by the National Economic Development & Law Center's Californians for Family Economic Self-Sufficiency, and Wider Opportunities for Women. It's based on a sample drawn from the March 2001 Current Population Survey conducted by the Census Bureau.
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State of the Nation's Housing 2004
Annual report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
San Mateo Health Care for the Homeless: 2003 Needs Assessment
In the fall of 2003, the San Mateo Medical Care for the Homeless (HCH) Program performed a needs assessment as part of developing its five-year strategic plan. Based on the results of the needs assessment, goals and objectives will be developed and incorporated into this strategic plan. These goals and objectives will establish the funding priorities for the 2004 HCH Request for Proposals process.
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