Trump's budget guts affordable housing during an affordable housing shortage

February 13, 2018                       By: Jeff Andrews

The new budget proposal shifts the responsibility of funding affordable housing from the federal government to local governments and the private sector.

Home prices and rents are regularly hitting new all-time highs. The share of Americans who spend more than 50 percent of their income on housing is rising. Private sector home builders are catering to the high-end market, not low-income families.

The result is an affordable housing shortage that’s quickly becoming a crisis, and yet instead of increasing investment in the federal programs that can give low-income families housing stability, President Trump’s budget proposal unveiled Monday guts them at time when they’re needed most.

“We’re in the worst affordable housing crisis in generations,” said Sue Popkin, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute. “We already have a situation where only one in five households eligible for housing assistance gets it. This is only going to make that worse.”......................Read More