Rise in Rent, but Reason to Hope
The numbers are in. And it ain't pretty. "Housing costs ate up more of the monthly paycheck for millions of Americans in 2006 than the year before," the New York Times reported today. Half of all renters and 37 percent of mortgage holders—up from 35 percent in 2005, an increase of more than 1.5 million households—spent at least 30 percent of their income on housing costs. Fortunately, Congress has the chance to act—and it appears that it might.
Housing costs are on the rise and wages are just not keeping up. When rent costs rise for middle-income Americans, it might mean fewer trips to the movies or out to dinner. For low-income Americans, the consequences are graver—sometimes forcing parents to skip a meal so their children can eat or an elderly couple to chop their meds in half so they can wait to buy their next prescription.
If the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act (H.R. 2895) becomes law, then millions of Americans won't have to make those choices. The bill, sponsored by Representative Barney Frank (D-MA), would "establish a National Housing Trust Fund with ongoing, permanent, dedicated and sufficient sources of revenue to build, rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million units of housing for the lowest income families over the next 10 years," according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), which supports the bill.
H.R. 2895 is headed to the House floor after being passed out of the House Committee on Financial Services by a bipartisan vote of 45-23. This is the first time a trust fund housing bill has gone to the floor and affordable housing advocates are hopeful. The NLIHC has a list of current co-sponsors of the bill. Call your Representative—either to thank them for co-sponsoring the bill, or to encourage them to do so. Otherwise next year when you’re reading the Times, it could feel like deja vu all over again.