HOUSING MOBILITY OR HOUSING INSTABILITY? Rachel Garshick Kleit, PhD Professor and Section Head Prepared for the Starting at Home Conference April 2017 `
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Social determinants of health Kirwan Institute s Opportunity Maps Implication is housing mobility Housing instability and a lack of choices makes mobility hard to achieve. Policies to reverse. 2
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning What really matters? Safe neighborhood Stable housing Education quality Access to opportunity But hard to find quality affordable housing that does all this. WHY? 3
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Rental housing demand up, rents rising. Occupancy and Average Rent for Multifamily Housing Occupancy and Average Rent for Multifamily Housing, Columbus, OH Rental Market 4
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Housing Choice Voucher Program and Projectbased Rental Assistance Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Public Housing Other Housing Programs 72% of federal housing expenditures benefit households who are not lowincome. Exclusion From Taxable Income billions of dollars Deduction for Mortgage Interest Deduction for Property Taxes Capital Gains Exclusion Depreciation of Rental Housing Center 0 for Budget and Policy 20 Priorities 40 60 80 100 120 5
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Only 26% of those who qualify get housing assistance (2013) In Franklin County, 54,000 households earning less than 20,000 annually pay more than half their incomes for housing. State of the Nation s Housing 2016: https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chromeinstant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=utf-8#q=state+of+the+nation's+housing+2017; Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio: http://www.ahaco.org/what-we-do 6
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning 200,000 of 340,000 families in Columbus are financially insecure A worker in Columbus would have to earn $15.98 an hour to afford Columbus market rate of $831 for a two-bedroom for herself and her son or double her income earning minimum wage.. Urban Institute: http://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/87696/columbus-cost-eviction-and-unpaid-bills-financially-insecurefamilies-city-budgets_1.pdf; Affordable Housing Alliance of Central Ohio: http://www.ahaco.org/what-we-do 7
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Housing Mobility Except for job change, divorce, travel Mobile Young Adult Urban Married Couple Family with Children Downsizing Empty Nesters Housing moves are the resolution of stress between housing needs and housing characteristics. Kleit, Kang, and Scally, 2016. Why Do Housing Mobility Programs Fail in Moving Households to Better Neighborhoods?" Housing Policy Debate 26(1): 188-209. 8
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Or Housing Instability? Youth Living with Parent Voluntary? Single Parent Grand family Responses to household dissolution, abuse, corrupt landlords, disruptive neighbors, lack of safety and debt Poor have more exposure to stressful aspects of housing. Impoverished Senior Continued Instability? Kleit, Kang, and Scally, 2016. Why Do Housing Mobility Programs Fail in Moving Households to Better Neighborhoods?" Housing Policy Debate 26(1): 188-209. 9
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Better Communities Move Outcome B Move decisions & neighborhood quality Push Factors Pull Factors Reason for Move A Move Process Worse Communities Kleit, Kang, and Scally, 2016. Why Do Housing Mobility Programs Fail in Moving Households to Better Neighborhoods?" Housing Policy Debate 26(1): 188-209. 10
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning People and Place Improve places & opportunities for people Community development Choice to move? 11
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning Move to PROSPER New sources of subsidy Fewer barriers to housing choice Supports to improve the stability of households in opportunity neighborhoods Providing Relocation Opportunities to Stable Positive Environments for Renters 12
Knowlton School City and Regional Planning 13
The Origin of Opportunity Mapping Thompson v. HUD: Baltimore, MD
The Opportunity Framework: Opportunity Matters: Space, place, and life outcomes Systems Thinking: We re all situated within opportunity structures Place, Race, and Opportunity Structures: Neighborhoods and access to opportunity Structural Interaction: The arrangement of multiple variables creates barriers to opportunity Systems are Dynamic: The creation of feedback loops
Toledo, Ohio LIHTC Units
Opportunity Mapping A data-driven tool designed to: Spark dialogue about equitable development policies Target strategies for place-based investment Identify ways to increase housing choice Examples of how it has been applied: Legal aid and community organizing strategy Affordable housing investment and policy Regional sustainability planning Place-based investment by foundations & their grantees
How can policies and investments help create healthy places of opportunity for all?
2016-2017 QAP Opportunity Index Very High High Moderate Low Very Low Population by Race 1 Dot = 500 WHITE BLACK HISPANIC ASIAN ALL_OTHER OTHERS
Pulling the Levers of Opportunity For All Creating Policies of Equity: Follow the money Follow the process Engage all stakeholders Demonstrate linked fates & shared interest Use all the tools you have- create new ones if necessary LIHTC QAP Case Study: Where does affordable housing investment come from? How are credits distributed? Who has an interest in the QAP? Program success can help everyone What other levers affect LIHTC development?
The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Program: Are developments locating where they should? Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
Are LIHTC projects locating in tight or soft markets? Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
Table 1. Census Tracts in the United States by Rental Vacancy Rate in 2015 Rental vacancy category Percent of tracts Percent of LIHTC Units Tight Less than 5% 46.3% 37.5% Normal 5% to 6.9% 11.1% 13.7% Soft 7% to 9.9% 14.0% 17.9% Very soft Greater than 10% 28.6% 30.9% Source: American Community Survey, 2015, 1-year estimates; HUD LIHTC Database, 2017. Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
Are LIHTC units entering at a price point where there is a shortage? Are LIHTC units serving the income strata where there is a need? Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
Are LIHTC units locating in neighborhood with a shortage of units in the price point served? Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
Table 2. Low-Income Housing Tax Credit Units by Tract Rental Market Need 2015 Number of rental units with rents $625 to $875 minus renter households with income $25,000 to $35,000 Rental market need category Tracts (Percent) LIHTC Units (Percent) Shortage 200 or more units 231 ( 0.3%) 18,013 ( 0.7%) Shortage 50 to 199 units 5,102 ( 7.0%) 190,868 ( 7.9%) Balanced -49 to +49 units 39,033 ( 53.4%) 687,597 ( 28.3%) Surplus 50 to 199 units 21,966 ( 30.1%) 929,850 ( 28.3%) Surplus 200 or more units 6,724 ( 9.2%) 603,944 ( 24.9%) Total 73,056 (100.0%) 2,430,272 (100.0%) Source: American Community Survey, 2015, 1-year estimates Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017
LIHTC Program performance: One-half of units are located in soft markets. Developing units for income category that is well served and not serving an income category in need. One-half of units are located in markets with surplus of the income category served. Starting at Home: Measuring Opportunity Columbus, Ohio Kirk McClure mcclure@ku.edu April 27, 2017