The Housing Crisis is Here, There and Everywhere

You’ve heard those of us in the non-profit housing biz in Charlottesville talk about our local crisis in housing that’s affordable.  People in low-wage jobs are priced out of this market.  Well, HUD Secretary Julian Castro has affirmed that it is a national crisis.  With 11.5 million extremely low-income households and only 3.3 million affordable units available, you can do the math. Lots of people are in the trap of high cost housing.

In this opinion piece on CNN, Secretary Castro notes that many workers are caught in a double bind–substandard housing that is expensive–and cannot get up and out since they’re already spending half of their take home pay on housing alone.  HUD is working to preserve existing housing and build new housing that’s affordable, and they are enlisting private and public sector partners to help.  Piedmont Housing is at the table with them, looking for solutions for our little piece of this national crisis.