The fallout of not enough affordable housing stock
So what other tools do we have? What other needs are not fulfilled? A common aphorism says, “The rent eats first.” While waiting for affordable housing to be created, SNAP and the Child Tax Credit could fill some of the gaps.
To the editor,
Re: “Consultants say Stamford doesn’t have enough affordable housing,” a May 12 news story by Veronica Del Valle.
Thank you for your coverage of Stamford’s shortage of affordable housing units. It was good to read that every 10 new housing units require the addition of new affordable units in the city’s deed-restricted stock — affordable housing for families earning less than half the area’s median income. That will help ... but not enough.
Nationally, only one of every four households that qualify for Section 8 housing vouchers receive them, because there is simply not enough affordable housing stock. And qualified households can wait years for vacancies to manifest. So new affordable housing is part of the answer but, again, not enough.
So, what other tools do we have? What other needs are not fulfilled? A common aphorism says, “The rent eats first.” While waiting for affordable housing to be created, SNAP and the Child Tax Credit could fill some of the gaps.
Last year, Congress expanded CTC to include all low-income families and allowed the payments to be sent monthly, rather than as a once-a-year tax credit. Families used their CTC payments for food, clothes for the children and, yes, rent. But, at the end of last year, some in Congress stopped the extension of the CTC. In January, 3.7 million children fell below the poverty line, and 1.4 CTC householders left their jobs because they could no longer afford childcare.
So, with affordable housing not so affordable after all, especially with inflation soaring, with children going hungry, and with parents not earning enough to pay for child care needed in order to work, something has to give.
All of us need to tell Congressman Jim Himes and Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Murphy that we will support them, and other members of Congress, who will reauthorize the Child Tax Credit and other legislation to help our neighbors who have fallen on hard times.