HousingLink Blog

• Affordable Housing Vacancy Rates Declining, While High Rent Vacancies Are Up.

  2/5/2010 11:13:59 AM

  We all know the economy is in rough shape. Both lower income renters and higher rent landlords are feeling the effects of the difficult economy. Recently HUD reported that, nationwide, vacancy rates are extremely high, but vacancies in assisted rental housing are much lower than the national average. Unfortunately, as the economy continues to remain stagnant, fewer apartments are affordable to low income renters, according to HUD's latest report.
  
  National rental vacancy rates rose above 10.5% in 2009’s second quarter. However, vacancies in assisted rental housing were much lower. This highlights that the demand for affordable housing is still quite high. Project-based Section 8 vacancies were below 5%. Public housing vacancies fell to 9.5%. In Minnesota, Low Income Housing Tax Credit projects had vacancy rates of around 4%. Additionally, the report notes evidence of households moving in together to save on housing expenses. Nearly 12% of households that moved in 2009 did so to join another household. This is up from less than 10% in 2005. This “doubling up” is likely one cause of the declining market demand for higher rent apartments.
  
  It's been difficult for property managers to fill vacancies in apartments that have high rent, and this trend seems to be continuing into 2010. We will keep doing our best to help people find a quality, affordable place to live...even when vacancy rates are quite low for affordable rentals.

  Full story

  Comments (0)

  Renter Housing Landlord Vacancy

• Affordable Housing Needed Everwhere

  1/26/2010 10:28:32 AM

  A few days ago, Minnesota Public Radio published a story that's near-and-dear to the mission of HousingLink. The story looked at a recent Brookings Institute report that analyzed poverty rates over the 95 largest metropolitan areas in the country. The MPR story points out that poverty rates are growing faster in suburban areas than they are in central cities, in the majority of country. One notable exception was the Twin Cities metro area. We are seeing poverty rates increase faster in the central cities. "Also, over the last 8 years the number of people living below the poverty line in the Twin Cities grew faster than it did in cities like Chicago and Milwaukee." writes Brandt Williams. The article doesn't state why the poverty rates in the Twin Cities are growing but one could speculate any number of reasons: High rates of immigration? Job loss? Political actions? Population migration? Something completely different?
  
  This article gets at the heart of why we think our work at HousingLink is so important. We were founded to be a resource for people to have greater locational choice when it comes to where they want to live. Our goal is to help people, from all parts of the Twin Cities, find and keep a quality, affordable place to call home. This article tells us that there is still more work to be done. We will continue help address the housing needs of those who have great needs.

  Full story

  Comments (0)

  Housing Poverty MPR