Today, the United States is witnessing an acute crisis in affordable workforce housing. And this has been impacting Americans across various income levels, but mostly the people who fall in the low- and middle-income bracket. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition study in 2018, a renter who works close to 40 hours weekly and earns a minimum wage can pay for a two-bedroom apartment.
And according to many Harvard researchers in 2016, several renters got cost-burdened. Even a few individuals with high incomes in costly coastal cities end up struggling with their rent. Close to two-thirds of the renters across the nation share that they are not able to get home. Also, saving for the same will not get better anytime soon. It’s because the house cost is increasing more than the rate of the wage growth.
Hence, Maxwell Drever says that today it has become crucial for the government agencies and other higher authorities to work towards the supply of affordable workforce housing.
Why does the workforce need low-cost housing?
The pandemic outbreak has adversely impacted households in the medium and low-income groups. Some of them have lost their job and others have salary cuts. There are people in this income bracket who have become contracted labor. And this has brought down their income and spending capacity. As a result, it became difficult for them to pay for the increasing house rents, resulting in eviction. Some of these people have become homeless and are living on the streets of United States. And this makes them vulnerable to the virus. That aside, some low-income families have shifted to the remote areas, making them compromise on good working scopes.
Hence, the workforce section needs a low-cost housing facility that will enable them to stay in a secure place by paying the rent they can afford. And if they can stay close to a place near to their office or workplace, it will enable them to save time and money on their commute and help increase the productivity at work. Eventually, it will result in better income and an improved work-life balance, allowing them to stay at a secure home and have a good lifestyle, which is essential for everyone.
Making way for affordable workforce housing
Maxwell Drever says that it is necessary for government agencies and other higher authorities to realize that relevance of affordable housing units and pave the path for awareness programs for the same. He also says that it is necessary to release certain funds towards developing affordable workforce housing units across the United States. The more such initiatives are taken, the privileged groups in society, including investors, developers, real estate agencies, non-profit organizations, and hotel owners will come forward and work towards the solution.
Once the government agencies and other higher authorities take a holistic approach towards the housing crisis problem, it can get resolved to a great extent through the development of low-cost workforce housing.