01/14/2020 - On the Brink of Homelessness:How the Affordable Housing Crisis...(EventID=110362)

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Tuesday, January 14, 2020 (10:00 AM) -- “On the Brink of Homelessness: How the Affordable Housing Crisis and the Gentrification of America Is Leaving Families Vulnerable” Connect with the House Financial Services Committee Get the latest news: https://financialservices.house.gov/ Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FinancialDems/ Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FSCDems ________________ This will be a one-panel hearing with the following witnesses: • Karen Chapple, Professor and Chair of the Department of City and Regional Planning, University of California, Berkley • Matthew Desmond, Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology & Director of the Eviction Lab, Princeton University • Priya Jayachandran, President, National Housing Trust • Jeffrey Williams, Tenant Advocate • Michael Hendrix, Director of State and Local Policy, Manhattan Institute Background This hearing will focus on the most recent data collected by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), there are more than half a million people experiencing homelessness in this country, which is defined as living in either emergency shelters or places unfit for human habitation. HUD’s McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance grants are the main sources of federal funding to help people who are experiencing homelessness. However, there are millions more people who are on the brink of homelessness due to unaffordable rents or other hardships, many of whom are housing unstable, which includes households that spends more than 50 percent of their income on rent, is living in motels without alternative adequate accommodations, or is doubled up with another family. HUD programs can help those who are at risk of homelessness by providing rental assistance to low income households such as the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program. Other HUD programs can help prevent homelessness by investing in the supply of affordable housing, such as the National Housing Trust Fund, the Home Investments Partnerships program, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Funding for each of these programs, however, has not kept pace with actual needs. Current Issues Contributing to the Rental Housing Crisis Lack of Investment in Affordable Housing Without federal investments, the private market is largely unable to develop, operate, or maintain rental housing affordable to the lowest income households. For example, the National Association of Homebuilders testified before the House Financial Services Committee that builders and developers would gladly serve families at all incomes if they “could simply make the numbers work,” but that “it is impossible to build new apartments affordable to low-income families without some type of government assistance….” This is because the cost of developing and operating such housing typically outstrips the amount of revenue a landlord would be able to generate by setting rents affordable to these households. However, despite the significant growth in the number of households eligible to receive HUD assistance, federal affordable housing programs have been underfunded for decades. Gentrification and Displacement While there is no consensus on a single and consistent definition of gentrification, it can generally be understood as a form of neighborhood change that occurs when higher-income households move into low income neighborhoods, increasing the demand for housing and rent prices. While gentrification can benefit long term neighborhood residents by lowering poverty rates, deconcentrating poverty and exposing residents to more economic opportunity, it can also create negative consequences. The impact of gentrification on rent prices can cause the displacement of longstanding residents, which often disproportionately affects people of color as well as the local cultures and communities they are tied to. Gentrification can also cause “exclusionary displacement,” wherein low-income residents who wish to move into gentrified neighborhoods are limited in their choices to do so because of the rent prices in those neighborhoods. Research has shown that when lower income residents are displaced by gentrification, they move to higher poverty neighborhoods with fewer resources such as public transportation and employment opportunities. Another study conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia found that gentrifying neighborhoods lost low-cost and affordable rental units at five times the rate of non-gentrifying neighborhoods. The study concluded that the preservation of existing federally assisted housing can be particularly important in gentrifying neighborhoods to ensure that long-term, low-income residents who want to stay in their neighborhood can do so. Short-Term Rentals The growth of short-term rentals facilitated by online platforms may also be contributing to the rental housing... Hearing Page: https://financialservices.house.gov/calendar/eventsingle.aspx?EventID=406019