Housing affordability and availability aren't just a problem in the biggest U.S. cities. Lawmakers in Utah and Nevada are pushing to get new homes built and help low to moderate-income residents pay their rent. (WBUR)
In Utah, lawmakers are considering a plan to help avoid reaching an affordable housing breaking point. It’s not just San Francisco and New York — other urban areas, such as midsize cities in Utah, Montana and New Mexico, are also taking a hit.
A shortage of workers is one reason why more buildings aren’t being constructed to keep up with demand, he says, along with expensive land prices, housing-development approval and strict regulations regarding high-density housing. The problem here is two-fold, Herbert explains. When housing prices are “outstripping incomes,” it proves more difficult to qualify for bank loans and harder to save for the down payment and mortgage.
But regulatory processes take time. The breaking point, he says, may be when housing becomes “so unaffordable” that people can’t afford to buy homes and would ultimately force sellers to lower prices. “If we can spend $150 to $500 a month on a family being able to stay in their home, that is a fraction of the cost of what it takes for a family to be housed at the homeless shelters,” he says.
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