Affordable Housing
What is Affordable Housing?
Affordable Housing allows for low-income families to pay for housing without needing to sacrifice from their other basic needs. Many low income households have to pay more than 30% in rent or mortgage meaning they are cost burdened which means that they are unable to afford other basic needs as housing takes a significant chunk of their income. For families that pay 50% or more they are considered severely cost burdened.(Aurand, et al 2023). Cost burdening has also been associated with higher rates of anxiety and depression as well as lower health expectancy rates(Shamsuddin, 2022).
For the very low income group making less than 27000 only 26% of families were satisfied with the housing stock(Philips, 2023). Part of this is due to the rising costs of housing compared to the relative stagnant wages is widening of non-affordability wages with wages having gone up 1.9% while housing prices have gone up 9.2% on average(Schwartzberg, 2023). The state of Ohio has 447,717 Extremely Low Income Renter Households, of those per 100 families there is only 40 houses that would classify as affordable, leaving 60% of households cost burdened (Aurand, et al 2023). So long as the housing market has a lack of supply the economical forces will continue to push rents costs higher.
This is specially true with the apartment market where the vacancy rate is 3.1% and a expected demand of 2800 units and only 1300 units under construction. (HUD, 2021)
Nonprofit: CountyCorp & and How They are Helping the Montgomery County Area
CountyCorp is a non-profit that focuses primarily on providing affordable housing to those who need it the most in Montgomery County. They are currently developing a $15.5 million-dollar affordable housing community in Trotwood. This development is meant to specifically target the area and those in the community who were affected by the tornados that tore down many housing communities. Since, the natural disaster Trotwood has seen a boom in development in the past couple years, and this housing initiative is meant to prevent gentrification from occurring in this area and make it possible for current residents to stay in their communities.
Housing that CountyCorp provides is reserved for those who are at 60% of the median income for the area and below. This prevents residents from being taken advantage and being forced to spend the majority of their income on housing. In some instances, landlords exploit low-income earners by heavily increasing the rents for housing that does not deserve the increase. CountyCorp prevents this from happening by offering fair and affordable housing. The location of their new development, in Trotwood, is located near countless community centers and facilities, such as the library. They have also stated that housing vouchers WILL be accepted. This is important because some landlords/housing companies refuse the usage of housing vouchers in an effort to keep low-income earners out of their facilities.
Not only does CountyCorp offer affordable housing to the Montgomery County Area, but they also provide many other programs and initatives to the community. Youthbuild is a program that works with at risk youth in the area to help build their real life skills. This program offers its members hands on experience with development projects, the ability to recieve nationally recognized certifications, access to mental health, drug, and alcohol counseling, and are paid as well. It is important to CountyCorp that they not only provide the community with affordable housing but that they also help build community morale in other spheres.
For more information regarding CountyCorp or to get involved with their community outreach visit their website: countycorp.com/contact/
By 2026, the city of Dayton will need more than 3,800 new rental units and 4,600 new units for sale to meet demand. Based on this, solutions need to be proposed right now that lead to more units available as affordable housing(Frolik)
According to the Stanford Social Innovation Review, a possible solution would be removing regulatory barriers at the Local, State, and Federal Level.(Ivory & Colton) Regulatory barriers are any regulations put in place that increase the cost or time of construction. Problems with these barriers include:
(1) the costs of implementing or complying with the regulation or process exceed the social benefits; (2) complex, non-transparent development processes limit entry to the market; and (3) restrictive land use regulations near employment and services may limit labor mobility, harming households and the national economy (Carson 8).
Specific ways to remove these regulatory barriers include:
Relaxing development requirements that contribute to higher construction costs such as setbacks and minimum lot sizes, reducing parking minimums, limiting local design standards, and encouraging the reuse of existing stock (Carson 10).
By reducing construction costs, the government can therefore sell at a lower price, allowing more units to be in an affordable range to be bought by residents of Dayton who need them.
Reducing regulations that prevent more by-right development(housing development policy that prioritizes the development of higher density multifamily housing through uniform, codified, and consistent zoning and development regulation(Carson 10).
By allowing more multi-family homes, the price of land per unit goes down leading to cheaper selling prices. Also, this reduces the cost and delay of discretionary approval processes because with multiple units in one house, only one set of approval processes needs to occur, and each approval process has a cost associated.
This makes for units to be sold immediately to residents in Dayton through a reduction of approval time per unit, and brings the cost of the units down for residents, placing more units in the threshold of affordable housing.
Providing government support for non-housing necessities:
The reason that high housing costs to income ratios are such a problem is because it leaves people in poverty in a position where they cant afford other necessities. Wealthy people can afford to pay more for their housing while still having enough money for other costs. Because of this, the problem unequally affects people in poverty, because they don’t have the same financial flexibility. Creating more affordable housing is the ideal solution, but if this can’t happen, providing more access to necessities for people struggling with poverty also addresses the issue. . Dayton has a similar system in place for low-income residents, but instead of providing necessities such as healthcare, they offer to pay up to 10% of the total value of a home for people who meet a list of requirements, such as having a household income that is less than 80% of the area median income. This makes it easier for the residents of those homes to purchase necessities for themselves because they save money on the purchase of their home. While this system is helpful for the people that it provides support for, it still isn't enough to help them access housing reliably. The program is only offered to people who make at least 20% less than the median income, and it provides 10% of the home value, which still leaves them in a deeper hole than others and may leave them in a position where they can't afford necessities. I think that the city of Dayton needs a stronger support system for people struggling with poverty in order to ensure that purchasing a home wouldn't bankrupt somebody or put them into a position where they can't afford food or healthcare. Providing these benefits to low income homeowners as well as increasing the amount that the home-buyer assistance program would provide are possible solutions that would drastically improve the quality of life of people struggling with poverty in Dayton.
Use a modular construction system to reduce construction costs:
Construction and land acquisition costs are the primary factors that prevent people from purchasing homes. While unproven, modular construction is used sparsely around the country and has shown positive benefits. Instead of building on-site like traditional construction projects, modular construction buildings are produced in a factory before being transported to a build site. It has been shown to reduce development costs by 10-20% and even results in a faster construction process by about 45%. Between the time and materials saved from construction as well as changes in market conditions, using modular construction could save $50,000 per project when compared to traditional on-site construction (Thompson). This also doesn’t factor in the benefits of having a greener building with increased safety and a streamlined construction process. Modular construction could be a great answer for affordable housing, but we don’t have the infrastructure to support widespread use of this process. There are very few facilities that produce modules in the United States, which would need to change if we were to adopt this system as a response to the affordable housing crisis. There is a site that produces modular homes near Dayton. There are a few modularly constructed homes in and around the city of Dayton, and they have lower costs than traditionally manufactured homes. However, there isn't enough infrastructure to support a widespread use of this system as a solution to the affordable housing crisis in Dayton.
Dayton has always been a manufacturing town, with many different production facilities and factories, especially in the automotive industry. When the industry left, many factories were left without purpose, still containing space for manufacturing. Given Dayton has a lack of modular construction sites, these old sites would be perfect spaces to implement this new form of construction. Similar to Fuyao with the old GMC factory, the government could buy these facilities up and reengineer them to fit the purpose of building homes.
Resources :
https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/pdf/DaytonOH-CHMA-21.pdf
https://ohiohome.org/hna-20/executivesummary-hna.aspx
https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Housing-Cost-Burden-Material-Hardship-and-Well-Being.pdf
Ohio has lost 3,500 factories over last 10 years, stats show (daytondailynews.com)
Innovative Solutions for the Housing Crisis (ssir.org
https://www.modularhomes.com/city/Dayton/Ohio/
https://www.daytonohio.gov/216/Neighborhood-Assistance-Programs
Works Cited:
Aurand, Andrew, et al. Gap a Shortage of Affordable Homes. National Low Income Housing Coalition, Mar. 2023, https://nlihc.org/gap?link_id=1&can_id=5a1edcb3f66a84e3c52a5c90c15fcdf6&source=email-embargoed-report-ohios-affordable-housing-shortage-getting-worse&email_referrer=email_1847393&email_subject=for-immediate-release-ohios-affordable-housing-shortage-getting-worse&order=title&sort=desc.
CountyCorp Logo. 2017. Homeownership Dayton, https://www.homeownershipdayton.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/County_Corp_Logo.jpg. Accessed 2023.
Hancock, Aimee. “Dayton Nonprofit to Develop $15.5 Million Affordable Housing Community in Trotwood.” Dayton Daily News, Dayton Daily News, 16 Sept. 2023, www.daytondailynews.com/local/dayton-nonprofit-to-develop-155-million-affordable-housing-community-in-trotwood/LFHFCEMZ2RAHJCPE6YTIFY6XNM/.
GDPR Support. www.daytondailynews.com/local/dayton-needs-quality-affordable-housing-getting-it-wont-be-easy/5H3EW7RKEFGIFBO6E7BD2TYEWA.
“Innovative Solutions for the Housing Crisis (SSIR).” (C) 2005-2023, ssir.org/articles/entry/innovative_solutions_for_the_housing_crisis.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. COMPREHENSIVE HOUSING MARKET ANALYSIS Dayton, Ohio. Office of Policy Development and Research ,, Apr. 2021, https://www.huduser.gov/portal/publications/pdf/DaytonOH-CHMA-21.pdf.
Phillips, Riley. ‘Report: Not Enough Affordable Housing for Low-Income Ohioans’. WDTN.Com, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.wdtn.com/news/ohio/report-not-enough-affordable-housing-for-low-income-ohioans/.
Schwartzberg, Eric. ‘Housing Costs Outpace Wage Growth in Dayton Area, Reducing Affordability’. Dayton-Daily-News, 19 Mar. 2023, https://www.daytondailynews.com/local/housing-costs-outpace-wage-growth-in-dayton-area-reducing-affordability/3CVZGIQ64FHANOGLSFU2E2P7IY/.
Shamsuddin, Shomon, and Colin Campbell. ‘Housing Cost Burden, Material Hardship, and Well-Being’. Housing Policy Debate, vol. 32, no. 3, May 2022, pp. 413–32. Taylor and Francis+NEJM, https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2021.1882532.
Thompson, John. Modular Construction: A Solution to Affordable Housing Challenges. sf-lib-dig-030.serverfarm.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/
1813/70841/18_Modular_Construction_A_Solution_to_Affordable_Housing.pdf?sequence=1.
United States, Congress, Policy Development and Research, and Ben Carson. Eliminating Regulatory Barriers to Affordable Housing: Federal, State, Local, and Tribal Opportunities, U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2021, pp. 1–138.