81/100
A March 2018 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition identified a shortage of more than 7.2 million adequate affordable rental homes available to Extremely Low Income ("ELI") renter households nationwide (ELI renters are those households below either the poverty guideline or 30% of area median income). That means only 35 adequate affordable rental homes are available for every 100 ELI renter households nationwide. Every state and every major metropolitan area has a shortage. In Texas, the problem is worse than the national average with only 30 available, and Houston is tied for the fourth most severely challenged major metropolitan area in the country with only 19 adequate affordable rental homes available per 100 ELI renter households. Put another way, 81% of extremely low-income families in the greater Houston area don’t have access to an adequate, affordable home. That's a big problem that few are doing anything to address.
While many of us are busy angsting over not having the latest iPhone, TV, or whatever, others less fortunate are being forced into the next-gen mobile home...
The Houston-Galveston corridor is not only critically supply challenged with respect to ELI-affordable housing, according to this 2017 report this area is also home to one of the largest gaps between fair market rental rates ("FMR") and the ELI-affordable rent, and the problem is getting worse. According to the latest HUD data, the fair market rate* ("FMR") in this area has increased by more than 9% in the past year with the one-bedroom FMR now at $871 and the two-bedroom at $1,066, yet the rent affordable to an ELI renter is only $565! To make matters even worse, the cost of inadequate housing tends not to be limited simply to rent. For example, factors such as structural and insulation damage common in run-down, low-quality housing can dramatically increase energy consumption and utility bills.
We think it's unacceptable than anyone is forced to live like this because decent affordable housing isn't available or because of profiteering on the backs of the most basic needs of the poor. We don't believe it has to be this way, and we have a bold plan to change the paradigm.
We think it's unacceptable than anyone is forced to live like this because decent affordable housing isn't available or because of profiteering on the backs of the most basic needs of the poor. We don't believe it has to be this way, and we have a bold plan to change the paradigm.
"Whoever oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker,
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." - Proverbs 14:31
but whoever is kind to the needy honors God." - Proverbs 14:31
*HUD Fair Market Rent is based on the 40th percentile in a given market meaning that 60% of the units in that market are more expensive.