REAL ESTATE TOPICS...The answer for affordable housing? Single-family home

Rentals in single-family homes and small multifamily buildings are a viable solution for helping the significant lack of affordable homes in the housing market.

Housing Finance Policy Center Director Laurie Goodman and Dan Magder of Center Creek Capital Group co-authored a brief on how great the issue of affordable housing is.

Nineteen million families in the United States currently pay more than half their income in rent. A predicted 13 million families will become renters over the next 20 years while the supply of affordable housing is shrinking. The need to increase affordable rental housing is clear.

As a solution they said that single-family rentals should be considered a key part of an affordable housing strategy due to their volume, location and affordability.

However, the piece adds, “Currently, single-family rental units make up more than half of the 14 million rental units in the United States, but government programs to increase affordable rental housing exclude them.”

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So how do we fix this?

The brief outlines three policy steps that could add or perserve quality affordable single-family rentals.

Here’s a preview of the first point:

1. Adjust HUD’s 223f Program

Policymakers should allow single family developers to access 223f loans from HUD. Currently the 223f program does not allow for multi-site projects unless they contain at least five contiguous properties. Single family rentals are generally much more scattered, so this requirement would need to be modified to enable developers to use HUD financing.