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Subject: Rent Costs Strain Poor in Metro Areas;75% of Low-Income Families Found to Pay
Date: Wed, 25 Nov 92 04:45:04 EST
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Rent Costs Strain Poor in Metro Areas;75% of Low-Income Families
Found to Pay More Than 'Affordable'<By Guy Gugliotta=Washington
Post Staff Writer= Three-quarters of the poor families in most of
the nation's largest metropolitan areas are paying more than the
government considers affordable for rent, according to a new
study of low-income housing.

In a survey of 44 cities, the Center on Budget and Policy Priori-
ties found that 75 percent of the low-income households earning
less than $10,000 per year are paying more than 30 percent of
their incomes in rent - the federal standard of "affordable hous-
ing" established during the 1980s. Less than a third of the poor
urban renters are receiving housing subsidies, the study found.

The affordable housing shortage is a "problem of considerable
magnitude" and "one of the principle elements of the urban
crisis," the center's director, Robert Greenstein, said at a news
conference. The center, a nonpartisan advocacy organization for
poor and middle-income groups, said the nation faces a low-income
housing shortage estimated at 4.1 million units.

In 39 of the 44 metro areas surveyed, housing costs alone normal-
ly exceeded the entire grant for a family of three receiving as-
sistance under Aid to Families with Dependent Children. The AFDC
stipend varies in different metropolitan areas, but in the Dis-
trict, the largest monthly benefit for a family of three is $409
per month, less than half the $830 fair market rent for a two-
bedroom apartment.

In the Washington metro area, the study said, 5 percent of all
households were below the poverty line, and there was a shortage
of 39,000 units of low-cost rental housing. The study said 78
percent of the District's poor families were spending more than
30 percent of their incomes on housing.  Likewise, the study said
78 percent of Baltimore-area poor families could not find afford-
able housing. The Baltimore area had a shortage of 38,700 low-
cost units, and 10 percent of all households were living below
the poverty line, the study said.

The study noted that in the late 1970s, about 300,000 low-income
housing units were being constructed each year, but the yearly
average now has dropped to 76,000. In all, the study said, the
number of low-income rental housing units declined from 6.8 mil-
lion nationally in 1970 (a surplus of 400,000) to 5.5 million in
1989 (a deficit of 4.1 million).

To reverse this "staggering" shortage, said Paul A. Leonard, the
center's senior researcher and coauthor of the study, the center
advocates increasing rent subsidies "as the first order of prior-
ity," and building or rehabilitating existing housing where
necessary.

John C. Weicher, assistant secretary of housing and urban
development for policy development and research, agreed that rent
subsidies offered the best way to alleviate the shortage and cri-
ticized Congress for underfunding HUD subsidy programs.

"The vacancy rate among units that are available for subsidy is 6
1/2 percent," Weicher said. "There's housing out there, but peo-
ple just can't afford it."

In all, said Barry Zigas, executive secretary of the nonprofit
Low Income Housing Information Service, affordable housing for
all who do not have it could cost $20 billion to $30 billion per
year beyond the current $20 billion annual outlay.

But while Greenstein called on the incoming Clinton administra-
tion to bring greater emphasis and resources to bear, he ack-
nowledged that a massive increase in federal assistance is "not
on the table" given "the current fiscal climate."

During his campaign Clinton frequently addressed urban issues,
but he has not stressed big-ticket assistance programs, focusing
instead on empowerment strategies in which federal aid could be
used by the poor as a stimulus for training, education, business
investment or home purchase.

The center compiled its study, "A Place to Call Home," by examin-
ing the American Housing Survey data prepared for HUD for 1986-
89, the latest years for which information is available.<

The study remains valid, Leonard said, because the economic cli-
mate in 1992 is considerably worse than it was four years ago:
"Poverty rates are virtually certain to have grown since then,"
Leonard said.  "If you're a poor family, you are likely to have
very tough housing choices." In all 44 of the metro areas exam-
ined, the study found that 75 percent of poor households spent
more than 30 percent of income for housing. In 43 of the areas,
the study found, costs exceeded 50 percent of incomes - making
them "worst cases" under federal law.

The study discovered that poor households in California had the
gravest problems with rents, with five California urban areas
showing 87 percent or more of low-income households unable to ob-
tain affordable housing. The center said San Diego and Orange
County showed more than five low-income renters for each unit
available - the most pronounced rental shortage in the country.

The center found that the Northeast presented the worst housing
expense for poor homeowners. In 12 areas, among them Boston, Buf-
falo, Hartford, New York-Long Island, northern New Jersey, Provi-
dence and Rochester, more than 90 percent of poor homeowners did
not have affordable housing.

Leonard explained that in most of these households, the owners
were elderly or disabled persons who may have paid off their
mortgages but still found themselves strapped to cover taxes and
utilities, particularly during winter months.

The housing shortfall did not discriminate by race, the study
found. In the average metropolitan area, it said, 88 percent of
poor whites, 85 percent of poor Hispanics and 78 percent of poor
blacks could not find affordable housing. The study noted, howev-
er, that minorities suffered disproportionately because they are
a higher percentage of all poor people.  "Most of this is not
brand-new information," Leonard said. "The situation for housing
and housing assistance is about where we were in the early 1960s
before food stamps."< 02:27 11-25C9999-----

Copyright 1992, The Washington Post.  This story is from the
Washington Post's Capitol Edition On-Line and is not to be ar-
chived or redistributed.

For more information, send-email to American Cybercasting Cor-
poration (usa@AmeriCast.COM)