Affordable Housing Hits Tough Times

New York, NY, September 14, 2016—Multifamily developers build tens of thousands of new apartments every year reserved for people with low incomes; however, the development trend for these properties has been downward, as of late, according to National Real Estate Investor.

Developers use subsidies from government programs like the federal low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) to fund development of these properties, but as the development costs increase, the amount of low-income housing produced decreases.

“The number of units of affordable housing produced has been trending slightly downwards,” says Jennifer Schwartz, assistant director for tax policy and advocacy for the National Council of State Housing Agencies (NCSHA).

The decline in new affordable housing comes at a bad time. After nearly a decade of sluggish production of new housing of all types, the U.S. is facing a severe housing shortage.

New multifamily housing is mostly priced for the luxury market, and affordable housing is difficult to find.