Strategy to meet demand

The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2018 Out of Reach report, released last week, reflects a harsh reality many Orlando families know too well: The demand for affordable housing has outpaced supply.

According to the report, a worker earning Florida’s minimum wage of $8.25 per hour must work 86 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent ($919) in the Orlando area. That number jumps to 102 hours per week for a two-bedroom apartment ($1,096).

These numbers illustrate the necessity of investing in affordable housing. Our community has made great progress in reducing homelessness. But, if we don’t tackle our affordable-housing crisis, that progress will be at risk. The region’s limited resources will be spent in less-than-efficient ways. Students in unstable housing will have reduced educational attainment. And our homeless neighbors will cycle through costly systems of care.

Fortunately, we know how to address this problem; and we have the data to show how cost-effective that solution is. Interim year-one findings from “The Solution That Saves,” a state pilot that Ability Housing is leading, show a 50 percent reduction in overall expenditures when high utilizers of crisis services are provided with permanent supportive housing. We know this approach is effective; emergency-room visits decreased by 73 percent, hospital costs were reduced by 63 percent, and arrests dropped by 89 percent.

If we increase investments in affordable housing, and link it with support services for the chronically homeless, we can realize optimal outcomes for our community.