Skyrocketing rental costs are hitting low-income residents even harder as available subsidized housing continues to disappear.
Marisa Kendall reports that the San Francisco Bay Area is losing subsidized affordable housing. A new report from the California Housing Partnership says that the five-county region has lost 2,128 affordable homes since 1997 and another 5 percent of affordable housing stock, over 5,000 homes, are at risk of becoming unaffordable.
"Developers essentially are pouring water into a leaky bucket: as they build new units, older units fall out of the supply when their government contracts expire and landlords sell the buildings or convert them to market rate rents," says Kendall.
In addition, the recent government shutdown resulted in the expiration of about 1,000 housing contracts nationwide. Affordable housing advocates are worried that the uncertainty and possibility of missed payments will keep more landlords from participating in federal housing programs.
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