Affordable housing woes in TN should be campaign issue

Can a society legitimately consider itself advanced when children are being raised in housing that costs so much they don’t get adequate food or heath care?

A report by ThinkTennessee, a moderate public policy research organization, and the Tennessee Housing and Development Agency, ranks Tennessee 34th in the nation for the supply of adequate affordable housing.

The problem, as ThinkTennessee President Shanna Hughey points out, affects more than those families struggling with housing costs. As the percentage of one’s income required for housing rises, it becomes more difficult to pay for expenses such as health care and food.

If, for example, a child is in class with kids who don’t have housing stability, health care or food, she said, “it’s hard for the classroom as a whole.”

In Tennessee, the problem just keeps getting worse.

According to Howmuch.net, a cost information website, the minimum salary required to afford the average home in Tennessee is $55,760, a figure that puts the average Tennessean (2016 median household income $48,547) at a disadvantage in the market for an average home.

According to a recent report by National Public Radio, the shortage of affordable homes can be attributed to such factors as a reduction in the construction of single-family homes, caused by such factors as labor shortages, material costs, the lingering effects of the Great Recession, tougher zoning laws and not enough undeveloped land.

According to ThinkTennessee, 133,581 more low-cost units would have to be added to the state’s inventory to put affordable roofs over the state’s lowincome residents. For every 100 extremely low-income residents, the report said, there are 45 available affordable rentals.

But even if those factors did not exist, too many Americans would be hard pressed to afford adequate housing.

The economic boom reflected in higher stock prices and a lower unemployment rate has, paradoxically, not produced a commensurate increase in wages.

So in addition to the traditional campaign issues such as education, health care and jobs, what do candidates during the current election campaign have to say about factors that are contributing to the shrinking inventory of affordable housing?

What is their opinion of Tennessee’s reliance on the sales tax for essential state revenue and the General Assembly’s reluctance to touch personal income, a policy that shifts much of the cost of essential state services from the wealthy to low- and middle-income earners.

What is their opinion of new Trumpera policies that have produced substantial federal tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations with little or no help

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