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Better results for kids and families through research-informed policy

Executive Summary

1. What Results Do You Want?

State policymakers can support and expand policies that increase affordable housing options for low- and moderate-income families. Affordable housing policies are foundational to school policies, community development strategies and transportation. While most zoning and development for housing happens at the local level, state policymakers are in a position to promote and enable the development and maintenance of affordable housing as well as to ensure that residents are protected and provided with needed supports. Policies that enable the development of sustainable, affordable housing options, support and strengthen federal housing programs, provide housing protections for low-income families, and coordinate access to services and support asset building are all ways to improve affordable housing options for families in your state.

2. How Are Your Kids?

The lack of affordable housing is a significant hardship for low-income families and an important influence on their well-being. Families who spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing are considered “cost burdened” and often face difficulties in providing necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care for themselves and for their children.[1] Children in families without stable housing have more frequent school changes and are often at increased risk of school failure and dropout.[2] An estimated 13 million households now spend more than 50 percent of their annual income on housing, and a family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.[3] Learn about root causes, review data on family housing affordability for your state and see guidance for setting projections and targets.

3. What Can Policymakers Do?

Strategies

Support the development of responsible affordable housing options

  • Establish housing trust funds.
  • Enable and encourage inclusionary zoning.
  • Utilize the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to guide development choices.
  • Support sustainable, transit-oriented development.

Support and strengthen federal housing programs

  • Provide subsidized housing options
  • Support housing maintenance and improvement programs.
  • Provide affordable rural housing options.

Provide housing protections for low-income families

  • Mandate tenant-focused, safe and reasonable code enforcement.
  • Support rent control and rent stabilization policies.
  • Support policies providing tax relief and assistance.
  • Implement eviction protection and prevention laws.
  • Expand foreclosure prevention strategies.

Coordinate access to services and support asset building

  • Require housing education and counseling in connection with assistance programs.
  • Develop Individual Development Accounts (IDAs).
  • Co-locate housing with services.
  • Require partnerships between human services agencies.

Success Story: Oregon

4. How Can You Ensure Success?

Guidance on successful implementation and accountability strategies to promote affordable housing.

5. How Can You Sustain Success?

Guidance on financing and investing in results.

[1] Center for Housing Policy (2005). Something’s Gotta Give: Working Families and the Cost of Housing. Available online .
[2] Lubell, J. and Brennan, M. Center for Housing Policy (2007). Framing the Issues: The Positive Impacts of Affordable Housing on Education. Available online.
[3] U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2011). Affordable Housing. Available online.

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Research affiliate of the National Housing Conference (NHC), the Center for Housing Policy (CHP), provided guidance for the development of these strategies. NHC and the Center are national leaders in advancing policy to promote housing affordability.

Disproportionate Impact. According to the report Foreclosures by Race and Ethnicity: The Demographics of a Crisis, an estimated 8% of both African Americans and Latinos have lost their homes to foreclosures, compared to 4.5% of whites. The racial and ethnic disparities in these rates hold even after controlling for differences in income patterns between groups.

Highlighting Promising Results. Based on the findings in Montgomery County, Maryland, “Housing Policy is School Policy” argues for providing low-income families a chance to live where their children can attend low-poverty public schools. Inclusionary zoning and scattered site public housing are two strong tools to achieve this result.
Severe Unaffordability. Analysis in Housing Landscape 2011 found that, in every state, at least one in ten working households paid more than 50% of their income for housing. Between 2008 and 2009, the share of working households with severe cost burden rose significantly in 25 states and held steady in the rest.