What You Need to Know about the Affordable Housing Debate
Affordable housing is far from a burden – rather, it enriches a community. By offering stability in times of crisis, halting the cycle of unemployment, and allowing for better senior care, affordable housing developments are responsible for keeping communities healthy and strong through any circumstance. Learn everything you need to know about the affordable housing debate from Christopher Community, Inc.
Offering Stable Housing in Crisis
When people discuss housing instability, few of them realize just how close to home it can be. Housing instability can affect anyone, including your friends and neighbors. Here are just a few reasons why an individual may struggle to afford comfortable housing:
- Increase in rent and/or utilities
- Divorce or separation
- Sudden illness or disability
- Living on Social Security
- Large families
- Job loss
Each of these factors can become obstacles to affording rent and other living expenses. Residents who were once confident in their housing, for instance, can suddenly find themselves worrying about whether they can afford their home. In these circumstances, affordable housing offers a stable home that won’t disappear when families need it most.
Improving Employment and Building a Sense of Community
Most modern affordable housing developments are populated by full-time workers in low or moderate-income jobs. While they can support themselves, their income isn’t quite enough to keep up with rising rent or support their family through a crisis. This becomes a vicious cycle. When people are forced to move after failure to pay, they may have to leave their job as well. Unstable employment leads to further income difficulties, housing struggles, and job loss.
Affordable housing stops this cycle in its tracks. These developments provide a stable living situation, allowing people access to stable jobs and the opportunity to save for the future. These people already work in, pay taxes to, and provide service for your town, so affordable housing enables them to stay and continue supporting the communities they love.
Keeping the Elderly Close to Home
In addition to low-income workers, affordable housing is also commonly offered to the elderly. People grow up, work, and raise children in communities they’ve grown fond of. Unfortunately, that family’s home may become a burden as its owners grow older. Retirement incomes and aging bodies often can’t keep up with the strains of homeownership, including:
- Paying expensive property taxes
- Keeping up with cleaning, yard work, and maintenance
- Affording expensive repairs on essential systems
- And more.
If the community has no affordable housing locally, those elderly residents must move away – but where will they go when their family lives in the town they are leaving? They are left feeling alone and with nowhere to go for the care they need. Affordable housing developments, on the other hand, let aging residents stay in place and remain engaged in their community. With the help of local loved ones, the support of friends, and none of the stress of moving, the elderly can live healthier and happier retirements.
Dedicated to Raising Awareness
Christopher Community, Inc. is an affordable apartment housing development based in Syracuse, New York. We’re committed to helping local residents find affordable, stable housing close to family, offering a range of resources and guides to this purpose. Contact us to learn more about the affordable housing debate, why housing is important, or to ask whether our community might be right for you.
