What Are The Positive Impact Of Affordable Housing

The problems that arise from housing are numerous. Housing takes up more than half of all real property tax. Not only that, it’s also the largest issue in a family’s budget. The federal government spent $38 billion in preferential subsidies and $2 trillion on housing in total in the year 2006. Rigid zoning codes prohibit certain types of housing from being built. This prevents some citizens from being provided with homes that fit their budget and ads to the chronic problem of homelessness our communities face. Too many houses can crowd neighborhoods and make transit difficult. They can also obstruct view and, when foreclosed upon, lead to plummeting property values.

What is affordable housing? Well affordable housing is housing that is affordable for those who have little to no income. The researcher who chose this topic wanted to inform the readers of the positive outcomes that come out of affordable housing and how it could impact you. Furthermore, this subject also goes more in depth, so you could understand what’s going on in your community. While it may hurt the community, people should consider for all the positive outcomes of affordable housing such as education, health increases, it is good economically.

When placing my life into the context of the world around me, it can be rather difficult to examine upon the struggles I’ve had upon my life. Particularly profound instances have scarred me to a certain degree, and for quite a while I’ve maintained an unhealthy manner of total repression from these happenings. However, as I move forward in my journey in life, battling to ward off the demons which have infiltrated my psyche since my youthful days, I hold the knowledge that I am not alone, and there are always people that care for me and my well being. This is where Affordable Housing has emaciating themselves in my heart forever. Without Affordable Housing, there is a fantastic chance that I am not the same happy, hard-working individual that I am today, and for that, I will forever be indebted to Affordable Housing. The impact

Several decades ago, housing was affordable; now it’s impossible for even the middle class to buy a decent home. Housing in California is very expensive, and this is one reason why California suffers the highest rate of homelessness in the country.In an online article written by the Mercury News they express that the median income in California is much higher than the nation’s average, however, it does not measure up the steadily increasing rate of rent.(2017) Lack of affordable housing has lead to high rent, overcrowding, and substandard housing. This can force many people to become homeless. Besides the lack of affordable housing that California is experiencing, there are also not enough homes for the state’s population. An online article written by the SacBee, explains that the population in California is increasing while housing construction is decreasing, due to funds and inexperienced construction workers(Aug 2017.) If California is unable to provide housing for it’s residents, this could lead people on the streets, having no where else to

The United States Census Bureau reports that, in 2015, 13.5% of Americans lived below the poverty line (Proctor, Semega, & Kollar, 2016). The negative effects of poverty are well documented and can have a widespread effect on the lives of those individuals who are affected. They are more likely to experience income and food insecurity, chronic health conditions, and lower quality education than wealthier Americans (United States Government Accountability Office, 2007). Additionally, and more importantly to the purposes of this report, the poor are more likely to experience homelessness or live in inadequate housing. The National Alliance to End Homelessness (2016) estimates that over 500 thousand people were homeless on any given night in 2015. The federal government, recognizing this issue exists, has responded by allocating “50 billion in housing assistance specifically designated for low-income households” (CBO, p.1) in 2014, which was used to assist nearly five million households through various programs (CBPP, p.1). The housing voucher program, which accounted for the largest percentage, provides families with subsidized housing, while allowing them to choose where they live, provided the housing meets certain health and safety thresholds set by local public housing agencies (HUD, Housing Choice). Despite access to

A lack of affordable housing has resulted in an inability to obtain adequate, appropriate, and affordable housing; urban renewal applied federal funds to remove blighted areas. Many people live from paycheck to paycheck just to put a roof over their head and are one paycheck away from having no place to live. Huge expanses of houses were removed. Simply put, the housing need has thus been an

The cutting of funding for housing services has resulted in less housing stability for individuals and families while putting families at risk to face poverty and homelessness. The government and housing providers are no longer making the needs of individuals and families a priority or even attempt to address the housing needs and challenges these individuals face. Instead, the government, market housing owners, and management have been tearing down housing complexes and replacing them with condominiums, rather than investing in repairs, renovations, and restructuring of the housing properties.

It is commonly accepted that minority groups and vulnerable populations are disproportionately affected by problems of access to care. This results in health disparities and these groups having a higher burden of certain diseases and disability1. The relationship between health and homelessness is bi-directional: experiencing homelessness can cause health issues and health issues can contribute to poverty and homelessness. The homeless population is vulnerable due to their economic disadvantage, hostile living conditions and increased risk for adverse health outcomes2. Homeless individuals are the poorest of the poor and have a shorter life expectancy than the general population3. In addition, homeless individuals have higher rates of morbidity

As stated previously, a majority of individuals experiencing homelessness around the U.S. suffer from chronic conditions and are least likely to have a regular source of health care (cite). Chronic homeless have an average life expectancy that is 15 years shorter than the average life expectancy in the United States (infographic). Additionally, chronic homelessness is associated with high-cost services such as jail, emergency care, psychiatric care, and temporary shelters. Because stable housing is an important indicator for better health outcomes, Better Health Through Housing utilizes a Housing First model in which high hospital utilizers suffering from medical comorbidities who are also also homeless are placed in permanent housing immediately

The “Community Stability Act” (CSA) is a policy designed to reduce housing transiency in low-income urban and rural communities by providing housing subsidies to low-income families, and financial assistance to families at risk of or experiencing eviction. The CSA will alleviate poverty through removing the various stressors associated with housing transiency, and have subsidiary effects related to education and economic opportunity. This policy is predicated on one key understanding. It is indisputable that the nature of the housing market has changed-- most urban low-income households are spending a significant portion of their income (>50%) on housing expenses. The present is an aberration of long held expectations-- that housing costs should not exceed 30% of one’s income-- and it needs to be addressed. However, the problem of housing costs is multifaceted, and addressing it requires systemic changes (augmenting the power dynamic between labor and capital in the U.S., fixating on public and affordable housing rather than private development) that would not be practical in the current political environment, or in the foreseeable future. This policy, in contrast, derives its attractiveness from how it can be framed, and the widespread effects (from a geographical and socioeconomic perspective) that it will have. The CSA will provide a housing subsidy to all parents of schoolchildren (aged four to eighteen). The subsidy would reduce the family’s housing costs to 30% of said

There has been many studied done on the ways in which ones socioeconomic status can have an effect on their health. The various ways in which socioeconomic status can affect health is through the access to resources such as education, food, work and health care, with those with more access having better overall health. A specific aspect of low socioeconomic status that affects health is inadequate housing. Part of the problem of inadequate housing is the amount of people who are not able to afford their own house, apartment, room, etc causing them to either live in shelters of experiences relative homelessness. The people who are the most susceptible to these conditions are those who have low socioeconomic status – lone-parents families, recent immigrants and Aboriginal

Since housing conditions vary significantly from state to state, it is important for state and localities to develop their own housing strategies. The two basic components that affect housing in New york, which need to be addressed to reform the affordable housing system are 1) many families have incomes that are too low to afford the costs to maintain a home 2) constraints on the

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

Medicaid policy has taken imperative action in acknowledging housing as a health determinant by permitting reimbursement for housing related services. Housing affects all aspects of a person’s development, impacting ability to achieve optimum health status in a myriad of ways.1 Stable housing provides a safe place to recuperate from surgery or illness, a place to properly store medication, and best allows a person to engage in and receive consistent care from a healthcare system that is not structured to deliver care to persons with unstable housing.2, 3 Housing is an important factor in health, with persons of lower socioeconomic status at higher risk of living in unsafe and toxic conditions, or in the case of the very poor, the homeless,

Housing policy in the mid 20th century was predicated on the notion that only certain people could gain access to class mobility and all subsequent policies were constructed in that vision. Those who benefited from those policies exploited the very people, whose denial of mobility propelled them into their position, leaving a class long neglected by the U.S. government stuck in the same position of exclusion with no aid in sight. The current affordable housing crisis in the United States is an outcome of decades of misguided policy making and capitalist ideology that began in the mid 20th century.