Study Warns of Affordable US Apartment Shortage

From Reuters:

The United States is rapidly losing apartments to demolition, and rent on available units is rising, pinching consumers struggling with home affordability, according to a new study released on Wednesday. The report from Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies found evidence of growing disparities between low- and higher-income renters in getting apartments. "We are taking one step forward and two steps back as gentrification in some neighborhoods and continued deterioration in others leads to the removal of vitally needed lower-cost rental housing,'' Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center, said in a statement.

Click here for the report: America's Rental Housing: Homes for a Diverse Nation.

Photo: Kevin Clark\The Washington Post. Location: Washington, DC Caption: Jim Brown, 60, is president of the tenants association at the Tyler House which is targeted for redevelopment under the mayor's New Communities initiative.

New Communities is an admirable local government initiative modeled after the HOPEVI program, but designed to retain lower-income housing on a one-for-one basis. (Most HOPEVI projects reduced by up to 75% the number of housing units for low- and lower-income families, especially larger units necessary to accommodate larger family sizes.)

Index Keywords: housing