D.C.'s Housing and Homelessness Crises Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

To reduce homelessness, advocates say, build more affordable housing.

1 minute read

October 14, 2021, 6:00 AM PDT

By Diana Ionescu @aworkoffiction


Washington D.C.

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Although people fall into homelessness for a wide range of reasons, writes Libby Solomon, "national advocates and groups convened to end homelessness all point to one key cause of homelessness: a lack of affordable housing."

"A robust affordable housing stock," Solomon argues, "can prevent households from falling into homelessness in the first place." In fact, "[h]ousing affordability and homelessness have a direct link." According to Nan Roman, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, "the major societal change that coincided with widespread modern homelessness was a rise in the cost of housing." A 2018 Zillow study supports that conclusion, finding that "areas where people spend more than a third of their income on rent experience more rapid increases in homelessness."

In Washington, D.C., "low-income people in particular are struggling — more than half of DC’s lowest-income renters are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on rent, NLIHC [National Low Income Housing Coalition] says." At the end of August 2021, "more than 100,000 households across the region were behind on rent — about 14% of renters."

As in other parts of the country, housing construction isn't keeping up with rising demand, and rents are rising–signs that don't bode well for future housing stability for D.C. families.

Thursday, October 7, 2021 in Greater Greater Washington

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