ShareWhen 92-year-old John Destler was down on his luck nearly 18 years ago, he applied for a subsidized housing program in Los Angeles called Affordable Living for the Aging (ALA). He lingered on a waiting list for two years. But when he was finally accepted, he moved into a one-bedroom courtyard apartment in the pleasant Fairfax neighborhood, which is adjacent to West Hollywood.
His building is called El Greco, modeled after the eponymous Spanish artist’s home in Toledo, Spain. The attractive Los Angeles dwelling was once home to movie stars.
“Getting into El Greco was a ‘God shot,’” said Destler, a one-time actor and Navy veteran who spent most of his career working in the advertising industry, some of it in Europe. “I was very fortunate; I’d say really quite lucky, to find this place and still be in it at my age. I’m friends with all my neighbors here, too.”
Destler said legend has it that actor Fred MacMurray (who starred in the 1961 Disney movie “The Absent-Minded Professor” and scores of other films) briefly called his apartment home.
Destler is just one more than nearly 10 million people in the United States who live in affordable housing, according to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. And many more need help with rent and down payments, advocates say, a situation exacerbated by the rising cost of living, a lack of housing and recent high interest rates.
According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, 49 percent of Americans said the availability of affordable housing is a significant concern where they live, up 10 percentage points from five years ago.
In the same report, 70 percent of Americans said young adults today have a harder time buying a home than their parents’ generation did.
Affordable housing generally is defined as housing in which the occupant pays no more than 30 percent of his or her gross income for housing costs, including utilities, said Paul Aylesworth, associate director of the Affordable and Sustainable Housing Development Track at the University of Wisconsin School of Business in Madison, Wis.
Middle-income people like teachers, fire fighters, police or journalists, can’t afford homes or rental properties near where they work.
Housing subsidies are not just for the low-income workers, either, because many Americans’ incomes have fallen well behind the cost of living. In many parts of the country—not just high-cost coastal cities—middle-income people like teachers, fire fighters, police or journalists, can’t afford homes or rental properties near where they work.
Programs to help people get into apartments and buy houses or condos—and stay there—are also needed, Aylesworth said, to keep some from becoming homeless. “Basically, there is an overall shortage of homes that people can afford. For a long time, folks earning much lower on the rungs of the income scale were the ones who depended on affordable housing programs. That’s no longer the case.”
It’s become a more acute issue over the past decade because there’s a shortfall of housing that people can pay for up through middle-income brackets, he added. “A lot of people trace the root of this situation back to the global financial crisis in 2008. That really slowed down housing construction, and it hasn’t fully recovered.”
Then COVID made things worse. Prior to the Great Recession, developers were putting up an average of 2 million homes a year. Builders now are starting roughly 1.1 million units, which experts say is well below the 1.6 million necessary to stay abreast of population growth. That means the country’s housing gap is now between 1.5 and 5.5 million units.
Zoning policies are often cited as constraining housing production.
There are a number of issues inhibiting adequate supply of housing, such as zoning, labor shortage/cost, or cost of building supplies. “Zoning policies across the country are often cited as constraining housing production,” Ayelsworth said.
To counteract those restrictions, some states—despite NIMBY pushback—have recently loosened their zoning regulations, allowing the construction of duplexes and small apartment buildings in formerly single-family-home neighborhoods.
“But it’s still basically a supply and demand issue,” he said. “So, we have the situation now where folks who you’d normally expect to be buying their first homes in their mid 20s aren’t able to.”
Because of this crisis, Aylesworth said many communities are stepping up and using a wide variety of methods to help individuals and families pay for affordable housing, ranging from local, state and federal grants to donations from charities, land banks or land trusts. And, in Michigan, a new law was enacted recently that significantly lowers property taxes on new rental projects with below-market-rate housing.
Elsewhere on the supply side, the professor said the Low- Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) is the single most important federal resource available to support the construction and rehabilitation of affordable housing. It currently finances about 90 percent of all new affordable housing development. It stimulates investment in affordable housing in underserved urban and rural communities and in higher-cost-suburban communities across the nation.
“It’s a bridge developers need to get the sources of capital into their budgets to get these affordable housing developments off the ground,” he said. When everything clicks, the program provides low-income individuals and families with a safe and decent place to live. And, by lessening their rent burdens, it ideally frees up additional income that can be spent on other necessities or put into savings for education or homeownership.
The LIHTC is also touted as a vital community and economic development tool, creating construction jobs and catalyzing redevelopment in struggling communities.
In Los Angeles, Destler said his apartment building has 12 units and a “lovely courtyard.” He pays just $769 a month, less than a third of the going rate for a similar apartment in his area. “There’s no way I’d be able to live here if I had to pay market rates because I live on Social Security and a small pension,” said Destler, who was born in Berlin in 1932 to Jewish parents and is a Holocaust survivor. His family fled Germany when he was a child and moved to the United States.
Shared Housing can make a huge difference in lives because the renter and homeowner can benefit from companionship.
ALA, the program which helps Destler afford housing, is funded by a variety of local, state and federal programs, as well as philanthropic organizations. It was founded in 1978 by Janet Witkin, who was caring for her frail grandfather at the time, said Antonio Manning, CEO and president of the organization.
Witkin was shocked by the lack of options for her granddad, who was also becoming more isolated as he aged: He could remain alone at home with little support or move to an institution where he’d forfeit his independence. Her predicament first inspired Witkin to create a Shared Housing program to match senior homeowners who had empty bedrooms with low-income housing seekers, the first of its kind in Los Angeles.
Since its inception, ALA has matched a total of 2,400 seniors through Shared Housing, which program director Avi Kapur said is a boon for seniors with homes who need some extra cash and single, low-income renters facing housing instability. “We facilitate conversations between potential renters and homeowners to make sure that they’re compatible and feel comfortable with each other,” he said. “We really try and guide them through the process as opposed to a senior just booking a room for rent on their own through Craigslist, where they might get scammed.”
Kapur said the program helps homeowners with additional income for groceries, to pay utilities or property taxes. “It can make a huge difference in their lives because both the renter—whose share typically ranges from $800 to $1,000 a month—and the homeowner can benefit from companionship.”
ALA’s overall mission is to reduce disparities and promote housing and health equity by enabling access to housing and health services for disadvantaged populations. ALA also provides intensive case management and access to community resources.
The agency’s mission statement says: “We envision a community where all individuals—regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic status—have access to affordable healthcare, housing and a network of supportive services.” To date, it has developed a total of 115 affordable housing units spanning 10 properties throughout Los Angeles including the LEEDS-certified, Janet L. Witkin Center.
In 2010, ALA expanded its programs to include Supportive Housing and Services offering intensive case management to support chronically homeless and very low-income seniors. During the past 45 years, ALA has supported over 35,000 Angelenos with services, counseling and permanent housing, Manning said. These days, ALA provides affordable housing for 100 seniors and permanent supportive housing for 75 elderly.
In Tacoma, Wash., 1,100 miles north of Los Angeles, Shelley Spalding and her 34-year-old son, Matthew, have found an affordable housing solution through intergenerational living—something that was relatively common in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
After spending nearly two decades on a small farm an hour west of Olympia, Wash., health problems forced Spalding, 79, to give up what she considered an idyllic homestead with a small house, a creek, a large meadow and garden, plus room for two horses, chickens, goats and a dog.
“I loved it out there,” she said. “But it was remote and I needed to be closer to good health care.”
Matthew, who lived about 70 miles away from his mom, frequently made the trip to help her out with chores and take her to medical appointments. After a divorce, he was living in an apartment. So, after Shelley sold her property, they found a Victorian on a pleasant street in Tacoma with a mother-in-law unit with its own entrance and patio.
She put down $400,000 on the $600,000 home. Matthew pays the mortgage and property taxes, which comes out to a little less than the $2,000 he paid a month for apartment rent. She covers the utilities.
“After a year or so, it’s working out nicely,” Shelley said. “Sometimes we have meals together, and we also have a garden plot we tend together in a community garden. At this point in our lives, we’re good friends as well as mother and son. From the get-go, Matt’s been very kind, a sweet kid. And he says he’ll always be there to take me to my doctors’ appointments. I appreciate that a lot.”
For his part, Matt said he’s pleased to be able to help build equity in a house and share a home with his mother again—like he did for the first 18 years of his life. “It’s not an imposition at all,” said the sound engineer. “I don’t know if it would work for everyone. And we do have our own space. But for us, it’s been a good thing.”
And if his girlfriend and her young son move in—a possibility, he said—they’ll have three generations in the house.
Some 2,000 miles east in Madison, Wis., 76-year-old Katie Kazan has lived in Linden Cohousing for five years. Prior to that, she and her artist partner, Dan Slick, lived in a 2,500-square-foot house on a tree-lined street in Monona, a Madison suburb.
Linden, which is in Madison’s hip isthmus neighborhood between lakes Monona and Mendota, has 45 dweller-owned condos, 11 of which are classified as affordable housing. Her two-bedroom unit is 1,200 square feet.
John Hendrick, president of Linden Cohousing, said the city of Madison supports the affordable housing units through the “Home-Buy the American Dream” (HBAD) program, which is funded by the state, the city and the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.
HBAD is a down-payment and closing-cost assistance program aimed at helping low-to-moderate-income homebuyers purchase a single-family home, condominium or one-half of a duplex in Madison. Qualified homebuyers may be eligible for up to $35,000.
Hendrick said the city rolls the subsidy over to new buyers, who are limited to 80 percent of local median income. In addition, the selling price can only increase 2 percent a year, “which is how we maintain permanently affordable homeownership.”
Residents share some common spaces, including a kitchen and dining area, and have occasional meals together.
Kazan, whose condo is not subsidized, said the age range at Linden goes from toddlers to seniors and families are encouraged. “Several babies were even born here,” she said with a smile.
Residents share some common spaces, including a kitchen and dining area, and have occasional meals together. Their artwork hangs in the halls so the building has something of a college dorm feel.
Kazan, a potter who now works mostly with polymer clays, grew up in New York City and first visited Madison in the 1970s. “I liked Wisconsin right away and have been here ever since,” said Kazan. “What first attracted me was that Linden has nine artists’ studios.
“This could be a condo building anywhere, but the common spaces make living here much more interesting and friendly,” she said. In addition, Linden has two guest rooms where visitors can stay.
“Linden has a bit of an activist and counter-culture vibe, which I like,” she added. “There are people here who are great gardeners, excellent cooks or are good at other things. We have the advantage of each other’s skills and interests. The community feeling is quite nice.”
She said living expenses are less at Linden than owning a home, wi-fi is part of their utility cost and parking under the building means they don’t need a garage. “We’ve been happy here, though sometimes, I do miss my old house on a leafy street.”
Roughly 900 miles to the east in Pennsylvania, Nora Licktash runs the Women’s Community Revitalization Project (WCRP). Based in North Philadelphia, the 38-year-old program now develops affordable housing for low-income women and their families in a number of Philadelphia neighborhoods. It also provides supportive services, advocates for policy change and promotes community leadership, dignity and justice.
“We’ve developed around 400 two-, three- and four-bedroom units for women and their families, many with young children. Currently, we have about 1,500 people we are housing,” Licktash said. “WCRP is aimed at aiding women because when you serve women, you serve everyone, really. It’s not entirely women who are tenants, but most are poor women of all ages.”
Licktash said WCRP affordable housing projects are funded via a number of sources, including the Low- Income Tax Credit program, the Federal Home Loan Bank system, Community Development Block Grants, charities and state, county and local housing trust funds, among others.
“We try to get as little money that we have to pay back as possible and as much equity or free money so that the rents can stay low,” said Licktash, who has a graduate degree in biochemistry and started her career as a cancer researcher. “That means rent for a two-bedroom unit is around $250 a month because we are dealing with people who are often working one or two minimum-wage jobs, or might be receiving Social Security Disability Insurance benefits because they are unable to work. And around 20 percent of our units are accessible, so they are for people who have disabilities or are in wheelchairs.”
Licktash said the last development WCRP did had 33 housing units. Because Philadelphia has so many people in need, they received 800 applications, most of them are women of color. “And some were paying more than 70 percent of their incomes on their housing costs and were living double or tripled up. I don’t know how much you know about income inequality, but it’s pretty bad. People clearly are spending way too much of what they earn on rent.”
In Montgomery County, Md., just north of Washington, D.C., an affordable housing project that will add nearly 195 “deeply affordable” homes, condos and rental units to the county’s housing stock is well on its way to completion and should be open next spring.
The Silver Spring development is being built on six acres of land that were donated by the county, said Jeffrey Dee, president and CEO of Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland. There are plans to create two new bus rapid transit lines close to the new development, which is near the intersection of Randolph and Veirs roads.
The development’s design includes plans for a fitness center, a half-acre public park with a playground and picnic area, plus space for an on-site child-care provider. The project is the largest of its kind in the county and is a collaboration between Habitat and the nonprofit affordable housing developer AHC Inc.
The Silver Spring development is needed, Dee said, because many families in the region are spending upwards of 50 percent of their monthly income towards rent. “And that means there is less money to spend on groceries, health care or education to ensure that you and your children have a good life.
“A lot of the families that we work with are in the service industry and must drive long distances to get to where they work because they can’t afford housing in the same county where they have jobs. And commuting isn’t cheap.”
The project will include 85 three- and four-bedroom units, which can be especially hard for low-income families to find. Dee said 168 will be affordable rental units in six buildings, which will be managed by AHC and 27 Habitat homes, including 24 garden-style condos and three detached homes.
Intergenerational living can provide affordable housing solutions.
The rental units will be affordable for households that make between 30 to 60 percent of the area median income, which is $42,700 to $85,380 for a family of four. The condos will be affordable at 30 to 50 percent of the area median income and the three single-family homes will be affordable at 70 percent of the area median income.
Though for-profit developers are required to make a percentage of new units affordable in Montgomery County, they are not required to make large apartments affordable, leaving a gap that Habitat and AHC are attempting to fill.
County funding and property tax assistance also helped the nonprofit developers to finance the project to focus on creating affordable housing for low-income families. Dee said several of the homes are Universal Design models, which have features such as “zero-step entries and wider hallways that allow residents to age in place and are also good for people with disabilities.
“Another really cool thing is that the condo units are very deeply affordable. What that means number wise is that we are going to be able to sell two-bedroom condos to families earning just $27,000 in the D.C.-metropolitan area. That’s practically unheard of these days.”
He praised the county for its donation of land and said a capital campaign raised another $1.5 million for the project. The development is also using New Markets Tax Credits from the federal government, which provides tax credits to investors for equity investments in certified Community Development Entities that invest in low-income communities.
In addition, it received grants from the Federal Home Loan Bank of Pittsburgh and a county-run Moderate Price Dwelling Unit program, which also provides tax benefits.
“We cobble together whatever kinds of programs we can find, along with donations and gifts to make things work,” Dee said. “I think what this project demonstrates is that if you get creative and have good county support, then you can really do some cool projects that help out people in need at all stages of life.”
