The Affordable Housing Crisis

The New Republic isn't a publication that I read very often, but recently this article, The New American Homeless, appeared on my Facebook feed. It was a sad and uncomfortable look at how families get caught on the downward spiral to homelessness.  The story of this family's journey took place in Atlanta, GA, but it could and does happen in many cities and smaller towns across the nation.

From the article:
"Last August, Cokethia Goodman returned home from work to discover a typed letter from her landlord in the mailbox. She felt a familiar panic as she began to read it. For nearly a year, Goodman and her six children—two of them adopted after being abandoned at birth—had been living in a derelict but functional three-bedroom house in the historically black Peoplestown neighborhood of Atlanta. It was ...at $950 a month, not including utilities—just barely affordable on the $9 hourly wage she earned as a full-time home health aide. 
"...When her lease expired at the end of the month, it would not be renewed. No explanation was legally required, and none was provided. “You think you did everything you’re supposed to do,” she told me, “and then this happens."
Eventually, Goodman came across a listing for a house in Forest Park, which was a 20-minute drive from their current neighborhood. ...A move to this place would further strain her budget. Her rent would increase by $50, and because her clients were in Atlanta, she would spend more on gas as well. At the house, the landlord, an affable 79-year-old man named Abdur-Rahim Dib Dudar, gave her a hurried walk-through. In exchange for the first month’s rent and a $1,000 security deposit, in cash, he agreed to forgo a credit check and any other requirements. Goodman decided that she had no choice but to take the place. "
Though the house was dilapidated, Goodman coaxed her kids into helping her spruce it up. But it was worse than it had initially seemed: The sinks were clogged up, one of the two toilets wouldn’t flush, the floors seemed to be sagging, a shower head was falling out of the wall, and, when Goodman went to plug in a lamp, the socket, she said, “caught on fire.”

In a short time, this house was declared uninhabitable, and Ms. Goodman and her kids sought shelter in a motel for a few days. Long story short, she lost her job. There was no room in available shelters or low income housing, and Goodman and her family found themselves on the streets or couch surfing with reluctant relatives. As of this reading, they still had not found permanent housing.

From the article:
"If the term "working homeless" has not yet entered our national vocabulary, there is reason to expect that it soon will. Hidden within the world of homelessness has always been a subset of individuals, usually single parents, with jobs; what’s different now is the sheer extent of this phenomenon. For a widening swath of the nearly seven million American workers living below the poverty line, a combination of skyrocketing rents, stagnant wages, and a lack of tenant protections has proved all but insurmountable. Theirs, increasingly, is the face of homelessness in the United States: people whose paychecks are no longer enough to keep a roof over their heads."

Lest we think that urban areas are the only places where this could happen, here is a look at how rents have risen in the past several years in smaller towns. I am an occasional volunteer with the local St. Vincent de Paul Society. One of the most frequent requests the organization gets is for assistance with rent. A few years ago the rent amounts were around $500 for a house, somewhat less for an apartment. Seemingly overnight, these amounts have doubled, stressing the resources of the various aid agencies.
We live on a street of 1950s era tract homes. The size of these houses are 800-1000 sq. feet, not counting the basements. Most have 2-3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The houses are mostly in decent shape. There was a family living next door for a couple of years. Recently they moved out, saying they couldn't afford the rent increase. The rent is now $1300 a month. The house was rented immediately.  We are lucky, we have owned our place for 24 years and the mortgage payments are less than half of what people are paying for rent now.
Of the Democratic candidates for president, Sanders and Buttigieg have said that housing is one of their priorities. Warren has said that she has a plan (of course). So far she is the only one who does. But realistically much of the solution is going to have to happen on the local level.