Research Paper On Affordable Housing

This can start to override the stigma often associated with low-income housing and even serving as a point of pride for those who live there” (Marin).

Within each service area there is a host of many options available. Specifically, under the Public and Indian Housing is the Housing Choice Voucher Program, commonly referred to as Section 8 Housing. Section 8 is the federal government's major program for access to very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford suitable, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Housing choice vouchers are administered by the local public housing agencies (PHAs). The

The Los Angeles County Board has allocated $25 million dollars to spend on new programs that promote social justice. I have developed a proposal to allocate the money to create affordable housing complexes in communities within the city. The communities selected for housing developments are Boyle Heights, Watts, Chinatown, Pico-Union and Elysian Park. The proposal includes spending all $25 million in five developments of affordable housing. Each housing development will have twenty five 2-bedroom apartments. A total of one hundred low income families will benefit in total. My proposal includes asking each family to pay a monthly rent of 1/4 of their monthly earnings. The monthly rent collected from tenants can be used to maintain the developments,

For the past fifty years the shift from meeting the housing needs of the poor through government projects-based housing to a more individual approach, has been slowly implemented. Housing vouchers now enable underprivileged populations to move from high-poverty, segregated neighborhoods to more un-segregated, low-poverty neighborhoods. Low-poverty neighborhoods have less crime, better opportunities for employment, and more diverse schooling options. Some housing advocates however, contend that housing assistance is unnecessary and is an income subsidy that should be combined with other social safety nets (Clark, W. 2008).

Accessibility to affordable housing for the homeless in an issue that not only influences the impoverished, but people of all races. The insufficiency of stable housing forces individuals who are facing extreme poverty, at times, to make choices that are out of their control. The loss of employment and distressful events that have occurred in their lives can eventually lead to a person or a family becoming homeless.

The Lack of Affordable Housing in California Lowers the Quality of Life for its Residents

It is often easy to castigate large cities or third world countries as failures in the field of affordable housing, yet the crisis, like an invisible cancer, manifests itself in many forms, plaguing both urban and suburban areas. Reformers have wrestled passionately with the issue for centuries, revealing the severity of the situation in an attempt for change, while politicians have only responded with band aid solutions. Unfortunately, the housing crisis easily fades from our memory, replaced by visions of homeless vets, or starving children. Metropolis magazine explains that “…though billions of dollars are spent each year on housing and development programs worldwide, ? At least 1 billion people

Over the last couple of decades, Buffalo has found itself in a grave housing crisis. The urban population is shrinking and the population in poverty is growing, leaving houses abandoned and left to fall apart. Although many cities in the Rust Belt are facing similar problems, about 15.7% of Buffalo housing was left vacant as of 2010, which places Buffalo as ninth in the nation for vacancy rate. As the masses abandon their homes, run down neighborhoods see an increase in crime and drug use, and a rapid decrease in property value (Armstrong et al. 1-2). Many see this deterioration, however, as an opportunity to renovate impoverished neighborhoods and make them more attractive to the upper and middle class. This process, known as gentrification, should increase the overall well being of residents by making neighborhoods safer,

Affordable housing in the United States describes sheltering units with well-adjusted housing costs for those living on an average, median income. The phrase usually implies to applied rental or purchaser housing within the financial means of lower-income ranges specific to the demographics of any given area. However, affordable housing does not include those living in social housing owned by government and non-profit organizations. More specifically, the targeted range for housing affordability sets below 30 percent of a household's annual income, including all applicable taxes, utility costs and home owners insurance rates. If the mean income per household breaches the 30 percent mark, then the agreed status becomes labeled as

There is still an unusual amount of two million cases of housing discrimination each year (Wikipedia). The National Fair Housing Alliance estimates that number to be closer to 4 million per year. Inappropriately, only seventeen of the cases went to court nationwide between the years 1989 and 1992 (Wikipedia). Studies show that minorities who apply for mortgages still have troubles are there rejected 3 times as much as Caucasians (Wikipedia). For instance, according to one Federal Reserve Board study, among higher income applicants, the denial rates were as high as 21% for African- Americans, 16% for Latinos, 11% for Asians and 8 and Caucasians (Wikipedia). In conclusion, the Fair Housing Act tried it’s best to eliminate housing discrimination and to provide structural equality. However, housing discrimination still exists but it is not as prevalent as it was before the

Airbnb is a short-term accommodation leasing and renting company which turns residential houses into tourist marketplace. Critics believe that this company is running illegal hotels that are against the health and safety regulations. Therefore, last year Airbnb was banned in certain areas and cities.

An extensive description of these programs includes HUD that deals with the development of affordable housing in urban area for low-income individuals. Lack of housing options have driven fissure in education, health and economic opportunities, in fact, the Mississippi Delta has the state’s average home value standing at 50 percent lower than the national average, making the state the second lowest in the country. The goal of the Department of Housing and Urban Development was to focus on insuring mortgages for single-family and multifamily dwellings and extending loans for home improvements and for the purchase of mobile homes; channeling funds from investors into the mortgage industry through the Government National Mortgage Association; and making loans for the construction or rehabilitation of housing projects for older and handicapped persons.

Housing affordability is a perennial problem in Australia and has worsened significantly over the past three decades.

According to Dictionary.com, “gentrification is the process of renovating houses and stores in urban neighborhoods to fit the middle or upper-income families, raising property value, but often displacing low-income families.” Gentrification has been an idea since the 1960s and had an effect on countless cities and neighborhood communities. Gentrification was first used by Ruth Glass in her book London: Aspect of Change in 1964, she noted that ¨gentrification can progress rapidly until all or most of the original working-class occupiers are displaced, and the whole social character of the district is changed.” Nonetheless, gentrification has helped revive many cities and revolutionize them, especially with technological

Those who rent from private landlords do not only tend to, on average, pay almost double the rent of a person living within social housing but also are twice as likely to live in a residence the Government would class as a “non-decent home”, a residence in disrepair and one that does not meet health and safety standards (Jonathan Owen, 2014). The undisputable growth of private renting sector is not limited to England but is also noticeable in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In wales the private rental sector represents 14% of total housing, the private rental sector in Scotland has doubled over the last ten years as more than three hundred thousand properties have been sold and in Northern Ireland private landlords own more properties than councils and housing associations combined according to national figures provided in 214 (Jonathan Owen, 2014).