If you wish to have a clear understanding of the affordable workforce housing crisis, you need to look at the issue in detail. That will enable you to understand the depth of the issue. Then you will know that this problem doesn’t just concern a specific segment, but the entire society.
The housing crisis is adversely affecting people’s savings. Today, a close of one-third of American families end up spending over 30% of their earnings on their house rent. According to a few reports, the amount spent on housing surpasses 50% of the earning of almost 10 million households. Today, the deprived renter households who have annual earnings that is less than $15,000 end up paying over 50% of the earning as house rent. Maxwell Drever says that all this poses a housing crisis all across the United States.
The solutions to the housing issue are undeniably more perplexing, and require a more profound comprehension of what sort of supply gets assembled, what doesn’t and what is lost as urban communities develop and redevelop.
COVID-19 outbreak accelerated the problem
Shelter is an essential element of life. Hence, most families end up paying more than their capacity on the house rent, and they have very less to pay on other services and goods. Hence, the low-earning families must curb down their expenditure on food and health care. The rising housing expenses force the households to fail to pay their mortgage or rent payments and get evicted or become homeless.
The unexpected pandemic outbreak had thrown light on the existing housing crisis and heightened the issue as not every individual possesses the shelter to adhere to the stay-at-home protocol. And the absence of proper housing has exposed a big section of the American household to the pandemic threat. If people can’t stay in a secure home, they can’t stay secured from the virus.
The absence of affordable housing involves public approach in light of the fact that overspending on housing lessens the monetary assets accessible to families for buying medical services, putting resources into their youngsters’ fates, putting something aside for retirement, and tending to the extreme difficulties related with a pandemic, other catastrophic events, and unexpected financial slumps like the current one.
The affordable housing issue concerns a broader demographic
The housing issue affects the global economy in numerous ways. Hence, it’s obvious that this issue will touch every person’s life at some point or the other. Homelessness also maximizes the health issues as the people impacted by it cannot pay for their health problems due to increased rents.
People who are looking for affordable housing usually end up moving to the rural areas, suburbs or the fringes where they can come across cheap housing. But on the other hand, their commute time to their workplace increases significantly. And that, in turn, leads to more damage and loss of money and time. It even disrupts the work-life balance for the workforce population.
A matter of concern
Maxwell Drever says that the housing issue is usually a problem that low-income families face. And today, it’s becoming prevalent amongst the ones who have been annual incomes between $30,000 and $75,000. The latest studies highlight that the percentage of the cost-burdened renters have gone up to a great extent in the past few years. And it all will end up in heavy traffic, congested roads that lead to more pollution and lead to enormous damage.
And since the housing crisis is known to impact economic mobility, it can have a trickling down impact on society. Hence, to ensure that there is economic growth and social wellness, it is essential to look into the housing crisis and make way for more affordable workforce housing.
