Americans face a large and growing crisis in housing affordability, with rental costs out of reach for millions. Nearly 1 in 2 renter households spend more than they can and should on rent, with 1 in 4 spending more than 50% of their income on rent. Low- to moderate-income earners, including community-serving professionals such as teachers, nurses, social workers, and first responders, who earn too much to qualify for housing subsidies, cannot afford the surging rents of newer or upgraded housing proximate to their jobs.
While demand continues to grow, new workforce housing is limited and shrinking due to the prohibitively high cost of construction and the renovation of existing, previously affordable, housing stock.
As a result, households are forced into longer commutes or making spending tradeoffs at the expense of other basic necessities that negatively impact their quality of life, their surrounding community, and the broader environment.