The Worsening Housing Crisis in the US

More than 4 million people in the US are living under the fear of eviction or being snatched of their possessions to settle their debt in the next few months. This is because the housing affordability and availability crisis has gone from bad to worse in the aftermath of the pandemic.

The federal eviction moratorium is about to end this month. It has helped many tenants keep the rented house with them. The money allocated to federal emergency rental assistance was meant to solve this problem, but the money didn’t reach most tenants.

The gap between White, Black, and Latino households may increase owing to the crisis, and lower-income Americans will not own a house. The reports state 4.3 million feared eviction or foreclosure in the coming two weeks.

Many tenants are looking forward to the Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium’s expiration. Housing advocates want its extension because it will give the states more time to distribute rental assistance for saving the communities at risk.

The National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s president, Diane Yentel, pointed out that the latest data makes two things obvious – one, the renters in need haven’t received the needed in the form of emergency rental assistance. Two, there are millions of renters lagging in rent payment. 

Victor Richardson is one of many people who want an extension of the law. He is 78 years old and also physically disabled. He is going through an eviction in Tucson, Arizona, where he lives in a $2,500 per month assisted living center. His case will be heard in July. But, he mentioned that they have been fighting, and soon they are looking forward to winning it. The housing confirmed a homeless shelter would not take Richardson due to his disability.

Many regions in the US need more homes.

These include West, South Florida, and many parts of California. Further, it extends to the Northeast, especially the New York-New Jersey areas.

If the US government doesn’t build enough houses considering the rapid growth of the population, most Americans will have to live in rented houses in the coming times. Though there is no harm in living in rented houses as it offers more flexibility, home buying has acted as the major source of wealth in the nation after the Second World War. As recently seen during a pandemic, Americans use their home equity to come out of their financial troubles.

Racial backgrounds make such problems even worse. White homeowners have more savings compared to their Black and Latino counterparts. White capable homeowners have generational wealth to make it worthwhile for down payments. Harvard researchers reported a massive gap in wealth and income between people with resources and those trying to survive the economic breakdown.

Apart from building a large number of homes, Harvard researchers gave the government the home affordability scheme as the most appropriate solution to tackle the problem in the long run.

Any proposal that helps the down payment will bring disadvantaged color households and low-income households in home buying.