An Overview of Affordability Housing Crisis in the US
This research paper intends to navigate its focus on a current social issue over the shortage of affordable housing in the United States. The affordable housing becomes a concern for the society as there is a group of influential people raises their concern over the housing market to the public. In an effort to generate public attention, Laura Kusisto who is a US housing and economic reporter claims that Americans are now on the edge of next housing crisis in her column on The Wall Street Journal (2018). Her claim is supported by the statistic generated by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on the rate of home construction per household as it was reaching a historical low in the past
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He contributes the stagnation of housing market, “America is not moving” in his own words, as an essential contributing factor to the upcoming housing crisis besides in lack of construction (2018). In particular, he sheds light on the statistics that a great number of US homeowners (79%) do not have the plan to relocate themselves in the upcoming years in which might intensify the extent of the housing crisis (2018). Thus, Kline concludes that since there are only insufficient amounts of new housing being introduced to the market, it emulates the difficulty for the new young buyers to become a homeowner (2018). With that being said, Kline’s statement is in line with the homeownership statistics published by the US Census Bureau (2018). With the statistical component for each age group of homeownership remains unchanged during last five years, householders age 65 years continue to be the largest constitute body in home ownership …show more content…
The parallel finding suggests that there are nearly 19 million American households spend more than half of their income streams on housing in which comprises for more than 40% of the rental community within the States (2017). Notwithstanding the fact that 30 percent of income is applied widely as the “golden standard” measure of affordability, the study indicates that roughly half of the renting households are in fact spending more on housing than they could afford (2017). Parallel findings have been reported in a Harvard study which indicates that the housing problem becomes more critical in larger metropolitan areas such as San Francisco and New York, where only 25% of the residents can afford the housing (GSD News, 2017). The study suggests that the housing problem in the States will continue to deteriorate attributing to the soaring demands from the millennial generation as they are moving away from their parent’s houses and in search for more personal spaces (2017). With that being said, Sarah Holder asserts that the households who have low and medium income might be the groups most vulnerable to the housing affordability crisis as the cumulative shortage of housing persist (2018). Her claim is built upon the annual report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition which entails the fact that the affordable housing program
Housing is a national crisis issue and the professional solution has priced itself beyond the reach of the majority of citizens.(Archer) To own a house implies commiting oneself to a mortgage and guaranteed income level for the majority of one’s working life.
This paper will argue how Canada's housing market is at an all time high, we are known in Vancouver for having the most expensive housing market. This expensive market is not just a Vancouver problem, it is an issue growing through out the nation and is depriving the average citizen to be able to purchase a house in there life time. There is a major issue with the state of our market and how it effects out current citizens. Issues have been arising where the average wage in Vancouver is estimated at seventy seven thousand per family house hold, yet the average costing home as reached between five hundred thousand in the
Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights asserts that housing is a fundamental component to a decent standard of living, yet few city governments--even in the most developed economies--have proven themselves capable of ensuring such a basic right to their constituents (United Nations, General Assembly). Ranked 49th among the 50 U.S. states for its number of housing units per capita, California has notoriously struggled with chronic shortages in its urban housing market. With 118,142 homeless people recorded in 2016, California holds almost 22% of the nation’s homeless population (Fact Sheet: Homelessness in California 1).
The sounds of elation by all sides of the business are what everyone involved in the post housing market crash is saying these days. The age of the foreclosure and short sale (“when a house on the market is worth less than the seller still owes for it”) is slowly coming to an end as buyers and lenders are more aware of the changing factors in today’s real estate market (Momberger). The previous method that lenders used helped cause the housing crash and a higher level of home loan defaults. Before the housing crash many buyers entered their housing purchase having some debt and often would refinance to pay off debts and use the increasing value of the house they purchased to pay them off. The new ways of qualifying buyers and assessing a homes
The housing crisis of 2008 can trace its origins back to the stock market trends of the mid- to late 90 's. During a period of extended growth in the stock market, increased individual wealth among investors led to generalized increases in spending, including in the housing market. With more disposable income in the pockets of consumers, the demand for housing increased in the late 90 's. Due to the fact that homes are large projects and their construction takes a large amount of time, the supply of homes in the market is inelastic on the short term. Because of the fixed supply of homes, as per the law of supply, which
In 2007 the worst housing market crash in U.S. history took place. Foreclosures and housing-related bankruptcies surged significantly. This ultimately caused the financial crisis the next year which nearly caused the United Sates to go into another great depression. So how did this housing bubble occur and what happened that caused the bubble to collapse?
Statistically, one out of seven families live in severe physical deficient housing. In fact, the housing and stock market revealed in July of 2009 that the Great Recession further widened the gap and income disparity between the average, hard-working Americans and the top 1% of wealthy Americans. Edward N. Wolff suggests that the average American produced a massive 36.1% drop in overall marketable assets while the top 1% of wealthy Americans only lost 11.1%. This income gap disparity ensures that ever-increasing need for affordable housing as the economic crisis worsens.
The right to an adequate standard of living is recognized as a human right in international human rights instruments. To make sure every citizen has a decent place to live is one of the basic goals for every government. China 's rise to be crowned as the world 's second-largest economy today is the latest milestone in a boom that has been running almost constantly since the country began the long process of embracing free-market principles more than 30 years ago.
The topic selected addresses housing assistance to low income households by the federal government. The federal government provided assistance through the housing choice voucher (HCV) program, public housing, project-based rental assistance, grants and tax expenditures. Funds range from $18 billion dollars for housing vouchers to 7 billion dollars for tax expenditures for the low-income housing tax credit. The three main programs assists almost five million households or close to 10 million people. However, these programs and funds only are utilized by only one quarter of the population who are eligible to receive these services. Annual household income for the participants of these programs were less than $14,000 per year which places
On the 9th of December of 2014, I attended a San Jose City Council meeting in the council chambers in the San Jose City Hall. The topic of discussion was the issue of affordable housing in San Jose. There are nearly 5,000 homeless people in San Jose. There are thousands more on waiting lists for affordable housing, some using more than 50 percent of their daily income for rent, or in danger of losing their homes. Homelessness impacts our community, our environment, and our homeless neighbors. Addressing the issue of homelessness is a constant battle between respecting the rights and also meeting the needs of the homeless individuals. This was continuously brought up during the City Council meeting. The members were discussing the
Vulnerable families were hit hard by the recent recession and housing crisis. Rates of homelessness and housing instability among families with children increased during this period, and thousands of families in the United States remain without safe, stable, affordable housing (Cortes, Dunton, Henry, Rolston, & Khadduri, 2012). Families without adequate housing face barriers to multiple aspects of wellbeing including physical and mental health, educational and employment opportunities, family stability, and social engagement. Homelessness has proven to be harmful to children above and beyond the general conditions of poverty, and children without adequate, safe, stable housing experience negative outcomes across multiple domains of health and wellbeing.
The lack of affordable housing in the United States is a problem that doesn 't receive nearly the attention that it necessitates. This absence of affordable housing became especially prevalent following World War II when suburbanization spread across the country like wildfire. Although the sheer number of homes increased, Jim Crow segregation influenced housing policy, meaning that white institutions prevented blacks from obtaining the mortgages needed to afford such homes. Therefore, rather than accept subprime loans, which often result in foreclosure, many black people have been pigeonholed into paying exorbitant rates for dilapidated rental properties located in inner-cities, thereby creating the affordable housing problem. Although the situation seems bleak, with careful planning and execution, we can solve the affordable housing problem. Specifically, my proposal involves the following two components: the government must first revise and draft three forms of legislation that create strict yet concise standards that landlords must follow, and then allocate federal funding to health and wellness programs within poor communities. By examining the contributing societal factors to the lack of affordable housing in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and then implementing the proposal mentioned above, one could potentially solve the affordable housing problem there and transpose the plan to other impoverished cities across the country.
During this era of economic crisis and downfall, many people are turning their backs from mortgage debt to a more affordable way of living. “Living Small” is becoming a large trend throughout the world, especially in the United States. In recent years, housing in America has been on a wild roller coaster ride that is on an increasingly unpredictable course. With the average American home almost quadrupling in size and a shift towards cheap disposable consumables, our home lives have evolved to be easy and without thought of the land around. The millennial generation have had a new form of the American Dream imposed on them, one that is laid out from start to end, with the
American’s deal with a serious challenge while looking for an affordable place to raise their families. Renting an apartment
My paper is about the recent situation and growth in the Hudson real estate market. I spoke with Kira Blair who works at Wells Fargo bank as a personal banker. Her impressions reflect what I’ve found in my literature research, which is firstly about the trend in real estate market. Kira said the trends of the rental market is that the need for lower rental for young people will continue to increase because younger people were unable to afford the mortgages when they enter the workforce for the first time. So without the funds to make a down payment or the credit to be approved for a mortgage, young people opted to rent and they may continue to rent in many years. Kira said that the demand for buying houses or apartments are not as much as