What we know about COVID’s impact on affordable housing – so far

<p>The economic fallout from COVID-19 magnified many of the existing challenges faced by North Carolina communities such as access to open space or the capacity of the local health care systems. Among these issues, the crisis highlighted how stable and affordable housing is essential to the well-being of local communities. In developing policy responses to the pandemic, federal, state, and local governments have placed affordable housing front and center.</p> <p>While the full impact of the pandemic will take years to understand, there are clear indicators that low-income renters living in unaffordable housing bore the worst of the crisis over the past 18 months. This blog post highlights what the data and research can tell us about the pandemic’s impact on affordable housing for North Carolina renters.</p> <p>According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), housing is considered “affordable” when housing-related costs (like rent and utilities) are no more than 30 percent of a household’s annual income. Households are considered “cost-burdened” when they spend between 30 and 50 percent of their income on housing costs, and “severely cost-burdened” when those costs exceed half their annual income.</p> <p>The graphic below illustrates affordability depending on the level of income in the years prior to the pandemic. For households in the lowest income bracket (those making less than 30 percent of the area median income, or around $21,000 for a family of four in North Carolina), a full 60 percent spent over half their income on housing. Among households earning between 50-80% of the median (between approximately $35,500 and [...]</p>