How many units of low-income housing does Spokane require?
According to the Spokane Housing Affordability 2000 Study, commissioned by the Spokane Partnership for Affordable Housing, revised April 1, 2002, Spokane stands out among urban counties in the state because of its high percentage of low-income households.
Twenty-three percent of the households earn less than $10,000 per year. Low incomes in the community are particularly the result of the types of jobs prevalent in Spokane. In the health field, Spokane’s largest industry, over 33% of workers earn less than 50% of the county’s median income.
Approximately 28,000 low-income families pay too high a percentage of their income for rental housing. The majority of these families reside within the city limits, approximately 17,500, with the balance in Spokane County. Overall, 16% of all county renter households are paying more than 30% of their income for housing. The greatest need for housing is felt by Spokane’s lowest income households. Subsidized units house only 1,473 of these families, and county-wide, not only has the number of poor families increased over the last 30 years, but there is also a higher concentration of poverty within these neighborhoods.
How effective have SNAP’s Property Development projects been in providing housing to low-income populations?
In the period, January 1, 2003 to December 28, 2003, SNAP’s Housing Team has housed a total of 899 individuals whose average monthly household income was less than $725 per month. Based on affordability guidelines established by HUD and other national, state, and local agencies, the average monthly tenant portion of their rental amounts was slightly over $225 per month.
Is Spokane unique in facing the problem of housing affordability? And, how big a problem is it?
No. The affordability gap has affected the whole country. A staggering three in ten U.S. households have housing affordability problems. Fully 14.3 million are severely cost-burdened (spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing) and another 17.3 million are moderately cost-burdened (spend 30-50 percent of their incomes on housing), according to “State of the Nation’s Housing 2003” produced by Harvard University.
This year's report goes on to say:
"Some 9.3 million households live in overcrowded units or housing classified as physically inadequate. And a disheartening 3.7 million households face more than one of these problems. Of course, the poor suffer the most. Three-quarters of severely cost-burdened households have incomes in the bottom fifth of the distribution. With a median income of only $10,000, half of these households can allot $250 a month at most for housing under the 30-percent-of-income standard for affordability. Households with incomes that low have only $583 left over to cover all other expenses. Severely burdened households, spending 50 percent of their income on housing, have just $417 left over."
To see the full report, click here.
Non-profit developers of low-income housing often use a patchwork of funding sources. Wouldn’t single-source financing be more practical and efficient?
Some projects do employ single-source financing but a majority of non-profits work with multiple funding sources because it helps develop a strong sense of local involvement and community pride. An excellent reading, making a strong argument for multiple-source financing for non-profit developers can be found in the Fannie Mae publication “A New Look at Creative Financing.” The publication is available for download here.
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