As Affordable Housing Crisis Grows, HUD Sits on the Sidelines

July 27, 2018                     By: Glenn Thrush

WASHINGTON — The country is in the grips of an escalating housing affordability crisis. Millions of low-income Americans are paying 70 percent or more of their incomes for shelter, while rents continue to rise and construction of affordable rental apartments lags far behind the need.

Ben Carson, the housing secretary, with Terrace McCoy at a homeless youth center in Las Vegas. Mr. Carson continues to prioritize his push to reduce, rather than expand, assistance to the poor. John Locher/Associated Press

The Trump administration’s main policy response, unveiled this spring by Ben Carson, the secretary of housing and urban development: a plan to triple rents for about 712,000 of the poorest tenants receiving federal housing aid and to loosen the cap on rents on 4.5 million households enrolled in federal voucher and public housing programs nationwide, with the goal of moving longtime tenants out of the system to make way for new ones.

As city and state officials and members of both parties clamor for the federal government to help, Mr. Carson has privately told aides that he views the shortage of affordable housing as regrettable, but as essentially a local problem..............Read More

Young, Cantwell, King and Bipartisan Senators Introduce Bill to Create Affordable Housing Task Force

July 18, 2018            By:  Todd Young

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-Ind.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), and Angus King (I-Maine), along with Senators Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Doug Jones (D-Ala.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), and Chris Coons (D-Del.) introduced the Task Force on the Impact of the Affordable Housing Crisis Act, which seeks to better understand and respond to America’s affordable housing crisis by creating a bipartisan affordable housing task force.

For millions of Americans, a lack of affordable housing has negative, profound, and lasting consequences. Research shows that an inability to access safe and affordable homes jeopardizes educational performance and economic mobility, and leaves families with fewer dollars to spend on health care, groceries, and other important expenses – further ingraining families in the cycle of poverty.

In order to solve the housing crisis, we need a better understanding of its impact on other government programs and areas of life.The affordable housing task force will evaluate and quantify the impact of housing costs on other government programs and provide recommendations to Congress on how increase affordable housing options in order to improve the effectiveness of other federal programs................Read More

Tax Incentives For Affordable Multifamily Housing

July 9, 2018                           By: Betsy Kim

Co-founders and principals of Standard Companies, Jeffrey E. Jaeger and Scott J. Alter, share key pointers on affordable housing.

NEW YORK CITY—The principals of the investment and asset firm Standard Companies, in a GlobeSt.com interview, explain a new benefit for the affordable housing sector. The company was founded 10 years ago, with its subdivision Standard Communities, by Jeffrey E. Jaeger, who works in Los Angeles, and Scott J. Alter, based in New York City. The mission of Standard Communities is preserving and upgrading affordable housing across the country.

Scott J. Alter and Jeffrey E. Jaeger, co-founders and principals, Standard Companies

Jaeger acknowledges the tremendous expense of new construction. That’s why Standard Communities focuses on preservation. He says there’s a large stock of housing built as affordable from the 1950s through the present day but many buildings have affordability restrictions which are expiring or at the risk of expiring.

“It’s considerably cheaper to preserve an existing building that is affordable than it is to build something new,” Jaeger says. “Our focus is working with the available tools to help preserve assets and provide a return on capital to do so.”..................Read More