Rhode Island continues to fall short in providing affordable homes for low-income renters
The report, The
Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, also reveals a national shortage
of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income
renter households – those with incomes at or below the poverty level or 30% of
their area median income, whichever is greater – resulting in just 35
affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter
households nationwide.
That’s a gap of 23,222 affordable and available rental homes
for extremely low-income renters in Rhode Island.
These findings come amidst ongoing attacks on federal
housing resources.
“The annual Gap report reflects what too many Rhode
Islanders are living every day: rents that stretch paychecks beyond their
limits and impossible choices between housing, food, medicine, and other basic
needs,” said Melina Lodge, Executive Director of the Housing Network of Rhode Island.1 “We are still not producing enough homes
affordable to residents with the lowest incomes, leaving families without the
stability they need to thrive. At a time when federal housing resources are
increasingly uncertain, we must recommit to reversing decades of
underinvestment and restrictive land use policies and expand deeply affordable
housing so people can count on a safe, stable place to call home.”
Released annually, The Gap investigates the affordability and availability of rental homes for households of different income levels nationwide. The supply of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households remains deeply inadequate nationwide and in Rhode Island.
As a result, 70% of extremely low-income renters in Rhode
Island are housing cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on
housing.
Of Rhode Island’s 50,063 extremely low-income renters, 55%
are severely housing-cost burdened, spending more than half of
their income on housing, leaving little left over for food, health care, and
other basic necessities.
“The GAP report highlights some facts in our most
recent Housing
Fact Book,” said Brenda Clement, Executive Director
of HousingWorks RI2 at Roger
Williams University. “For the first time, Rhode Island renters need an
income that exceeds the median renter income ($48,434) to affordably rent
anywhere in the state. Similarly, homeownership is out of reach. Even with an
income of $100,000, potential homebuyers are priced out of homeownership
opportunities throughout Rhode Island. High housing costs and high rates of
housing cost burden (1/3 of Rhode Islanders) continue to pose significant
threats to residents wellbeing and economic security.”
The private market, without subsidy, is unable to provide an
adequate supply of housing affordable to the lowest-income renters. What
extremely low-income renters can afford to pay for rent does not cover the
development and operating costs of new housing, and it is often insufficient to
provide an incentive for landlords to maintain older housing.
The result is a systemic shortage of affordable housing for
extremely low-income renters, impacting nearly every community, including in
Rhode Island.
Subsidies are needed to produce new affordable housing,
preserve existing affordable housing, or subsidize the difference between what
the lowest-income renters can afford to pay and market rents.
“The findings from The Gap show that no state or major
metropolitan area has an adequate supply of affordable and available homes for
extremely low-income renters,” said NLIHC President and CEO Renee M.
Willis. “It is a sad fact that only one in four households that qualify for
housing assistance receive it. When renters are housing cost-burdened, they
cannot afford to cover other basic necessities such as food, healthcare,
transportation, or childcare. Congress has the solutions to increase housing
affordability across the country. They must support robust housing assistance
programs that can alleviate the housing crisis and ensure the wellbeing of
millions of the lowest-income renters.”
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