For over 44 years, Enterprise has created or preserved 1 million affordable homes for individuals and families across the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Yet with rising costs, a massive housing shortage, and a weakened economy, millions of individuals and families, especially those from economically and socially disadvantaged communities, cannot afford a place to live. In 2023, nearly half of all renters in the U.S. were cost burdened.1 With eviction filings2 and homelessness3 at a record high, the need for affordable housing solutions is critical.
What is affordable housing?
Housing is considered affordable when a household contributes no more than 30 percent of their gross income towards housing costs – rent or mortgage payments plus utilities.
Affordable housing can be
- Unsubsidized housing or naturally occurring affordable housing: private housing that is affordable to individuals or families with low- to moderate-incomes without any government subsidies.
- Subsidized housing: housing that is partially funded with government funds. Some examples include:
- Public Housing (or social housing) is subsidized housing that is managed by local governments through a housing authority, non-profit organizations, or a combination of local government and non-profit organizations. Public housing assures that eligible individuals or families, older adults, and people with disabilities with low incomes have access to safe and affordable rental housing.
- U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development Housing Programs offer subsidies to individuals and families with low incomes the opportunity to own or rent safe and affordable housing in rural communities through housing programs.
- Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) is the federal government’s primary and largest program for rental assistance, subsidizing the cost of private rental housing for approximately 2.4 million households under 30% area median income or AMI annually.
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is a public-private partnership that is built on a “pay-for-success” model. Tax incentives are provided to developers to create affordable rental housing for renters with low incomes.
- Section 4 is a non-profit capacity building program available through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Section 4 is designed to enhance the capacity of Community Development Corporations and Community Housing Development Organizations to address community development and affordable housing needs for people with low-incomes in urban, rural, and tribal communities.
- Other government subsidy programs and resources are available for individuals or families who are in search of affordable housing or for organizations that provide or connect individuals or families to affordable housing, such as public housing agencies, housing providers and professionals.
Affordable housing is vital to communities. Ensuring that all residents have access to safe and resilient homes helps make homes a platform for mobility and a place of belonging. The shortage of affordable homes is a crisis, but we also cannot build our way out of it. Preservation is also essential – ensuring that the affordable homes that are available remain available. Nationwide, approximately 393K homes are at risk of losing their subsidies and affordability requirements by the end of the decade.
How are communities responding to the affordable housing crisis?
Learn how the affordable housing crisis is affecting communities across the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the different approaches to affordable housing solutions that are undertaken, and the strategies that are implemented to preserve and increase the supply of affordable housing.
