AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Affordable Housing

People with disabilities face a severe housing affordability crisis in this country. HUD's 2017 Worst Case Housing Needs Report to Congress found that in 2015, as many as 8.3 million renter households had worst case housing needs — defined as renters with acute needs for housing assistance, or unassisted renters with incomes below half of their area's median income who pay more than half of their income for housing or live in severely substandard housing. About 1.39 million, or 16.7%, of renter households with worst case housing needs included at least one non-elderly person with a disability. According to TAC’s most recent Priced Out report, published by TAC and the Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities’ Housing Task Force, millions of adults with disabilities living solely on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in 2016 found that renting even a modest unit in their community would require nearly all of their monthly income. In fact, in hundreds of higher-cost housing markets, the average rent for such basic units is actually greater than the entirety of an SSI monthly payment.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is the federal agency that creates solutions to meet the housing needs of homeless people and people with disabilities. The largest HUD affordable housing program is the Housing Choice Voucher Program. Over the past 15 years, HUD has awarded to Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) across the nation more than 70,000 Housing Choice Vouchers (HCVs) targeted exclusively to people with disabilities. TAC maintains a comprehensive database that identifies the PHAs in each state that administer these HCVs targeted to special needs populations.

The National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF) is an affordable housing production program administered by HUD and the State-Designated Entities that primarily assist extremely low-income (ELI) households. The state-designated entity may use NHTF funds for the production or preservation of housing that is affordable to ELI households (i.e., at or below 30 percent AMI) through the acquisition, new construction, reconstruction, and/or rehabilitation of affordable rental housing with suitable amenities. In addition, the State-Designated Entity may choose to use NHTF resources for ongoing eligible operating costs, or to fund an operating reserve to create and sustain rental housing units for households at or below 30 percent AMI.

TAC's report, Creating New Integrated Permanent Supportive Housing Opportunities For ELI Households: A Vision for the Future of the National Housing Trust Fund, documents innovative ELI financing strategies developed in several states which could be adapted for NHTF capital and operating subsidy funding.

• Find your State-Designated Entity for NHTF resources on the HUD Exchange.
• Find your state’s most recent Housing Trust Fund Allocation amount on the HUD Exchange.
• View your state’s NHTF Allocation Plan.

More on Affordable Housing Needs:

• Out of Reach 2019, a report published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), provides data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country regarding how much a household must earn to afford a modestly priced rental unit.
• The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes, also published by the NLIHC, analyzes data from the 2017 American Community Survey and illustrates the shortage of affordable and available rental homes for low-income households in the United States.
• Explore data on housing needs by state on the NLIHC website.

TAC Resources on Affordable Housing:

• Creating New Integrated Permanent Supportive Housing Opportunities For ELI Households: A Vision for the Future of the National Housing Trust Fund
• Save Section 811 with the New Community Integration Paradigm
• Section 8 Made Simple: Using the Housing Choice Voucher Program to End Chronic Homelessness
• Solutions that Work: Innovative Strategies to Meeting the Housing Needs of People with Disabilities
• Strategies to Help People with Disabilities Be Successful in the Housing Choice Voucher Program 
• The Hidden Housing Crisis: Worst Case Housing Needs Among Adults with Disabilities

Other Affordable Housing Resources:

Center on Budget & Policy Priorities National & State Data Fact Sheets