News Round-Up: Support for Solutions

Often, housing news seems bleak. Low income tenants are subjected to deplorable living conditions, victims of domestic violence often find themselves choosing between staying in a violent home or becoming homeless, and renters whose landlords are in foreclosure don’t realize their right to stay in their homes. But a recent poll shows the American people are supportive of real solutions to our country’s housing challenges.

Nearly half the renters in the area of which Victoria, Texas is a part cannot afford to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment there at the Fair Market Rent. The Victoria Advcoate tells the story of how one woman and her granddaughter live on a low fixed income in a cheap apartment, where weak landlord-tenant laws and lax regulation can mean suffering for families who can’t afford better.

The shrinking supply of affordable housing means victims of domestic violence have fewer places to go when leaving unsafe relationships, according to RH Reality Check. The author says that “a national increase in the availability of both short-term shelters as well as long-term housing options” is essential to ensure that domestic violence survivors do not become homeless.

A British magazine for housers investigates the homelessness crisis in San Francisco and the work advocates are doing to solve it. Noting that NLIHC found San Francisco to be the most expensive metro area in the country to rent, the article points out that the shortage of affordable housing is the greatest impediment to ending homelessness for that city.

Multifamily Executive reports on new NLIHC research showing that renters still make up at least 40% of households impacted by foreclosure. Renters in low income and minority neighborhoods are disproportionately impacted by the foreclosure problem.

And now for the good news: Affordable Housing Finance, DSNews and Multifamily Executive all report on the poll released by NLIHC on October 9 that shows that the majority of Americans support modifying the mortgage interest deduction to make it more targeted to helping middle and low income households, and that 69% of Americans support federal government programs to support rental housing. NLIHC seeks to use the savings from mortgage interest tax reform to capitalize the National Housing Trust Fund, which, once funded, would build, rehabilitate and preserve affordable rental housing for the lowest income Americans.

News Round-Up: No New Funding

In Massachusetts, state lawmakers and social service organizations are working to improve services available to victims of domestic violence. According to this story, incidences of domestic violence are on the rise in the U.S., with 1.03 million incidents reported in 1998, and 7 million reported in 2010. While better, more coordinated services are planned, shelter for victims of domestic violence is another issue. A shortage of shelter beds, disaster-related housing losses and having the eighth highest rental costs in the nation all make it difficult for victims of domestic violence to find new, safe places to live.

No new funding is on the horizon in Massachusetts for domestic violence shelters. But a group of nuns, calling themselves the “Nuns on the Bus,” is working to change that. They traveled across the country recently gathering support for an alternative to the proposed FY13 budget authored by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI). They heard stories from many Americans, including a gentleman who must choose between paying the rent and buying food for his family. The nuns support the “Faithful Budget,” which includes funding for the National Housing Trust Fund.