The Des Moines metro needs 11,848 affordable units for low-income renters, a new study says

March 15, 2019                                   By: Kim Norvell, Des Moines Register

Extremely low-income families cannot afford to live in 60 percent of central Iowa rental units, according to a new study released Friday.

To fill the gap in affordable housing, the Des Moines metro needs to add 11,848 homes for those renters, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The organization also found that 85.15 percent of those families — a family of four earning $25,100 a year or less — spend more than half of their income on rent.

"For rent" sign. (Photo: KaraGrubis, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

In Des Moines, that family would need to earn $31,226 a year to not be "rent burdened" in a 2-bedroom house — a term experts use to describe families who spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing.

"This crushing financial burden leaves little left for necessities such as food, transportation and health care," said Eric Burmeister, executive director of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund, who partnered on the study...............Read More