TEXAS, USA — Living in a home, let alone owning one, has become almost unattainable for the average American. People tend to look for affordable housing options, but lately that hasn't been easy either.
The Gap 2024 finds that only 3.7 million affordable and available rental homes exist for the 11 million extremely low-income (ELI) renter households in the U.S., resulting in a shortage of 7.3 million affordable and available rental homes for this income group.
This results in 34 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households across the country.
At the Central Texas Housing Consortium, executive director Barbra Bozon explained how minimum wage being so low has contributed to many people seeking affordable housing.
"We had a home buyer program that we did for quite a while," Bozon shared. "We had to phase that out because the cost of construction was rising so much faster than the income limits."
Bozon added how they've had to remove people from waiting lists after waiting so long.
"We stay 99% occupied and something we've had to do this past year that we've never done before is actually closed, now, waiting lists for some of those," Bozon said. "Also, Central Texas draws investors who want to buy properties and we don't want that."
The basic minimum wage in the state of Texas is $7.25/hour. Starting July 1, 2024, that rate will be raised to $10.25/hour.
TexasHousers.org reports there are more than 900,000 extremely low-income renter households in Texas. This is more than a fifth of all renter households in the state. In spite of these massive numbers, there are only 227,000 rental homes available to them.
For people who utilize Section 8 housing vouchers under the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (HUD), Carmen Lim with the Central Texas Council of Governments (CTCOG) told 6 News that finding a place for them to live has been one of the hardest tasks.
"Nobody wants to be homeless and everybody's looking for a safe place for their family to live," Lim added. "We are in need of landlords and property management companies to come on programs we have."
CTCOG assists families in Bell, Coryell, Milam, Hamilton, Lampasas, Mills, and San Saba counties. Lim reports they currently have 500 families who have housing vouchers but have yet to find a landlord or property manager to accept them, and 6,800 people on a waiting list for Section 8 housing.
NBC News reports that U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is rolling out a slate of financing initiatives to support new housing development, including a $100 million fund for affordable housing. The money will be used over the next three years to finance affordable housing projects. It is also calling on several agencies that help finance housing to bolster their support for new development.
"If that money is allocated to our agency, they're going to give us more funding to put more families on program," Lim added. "From there, I can pull as many families as I can and spend the money to be able to put more families on our program."
To apply for Section 8, find your nearest housing authority here.
For affordable housing options in your area, visit here.
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