Who can access affordable housing in American communities?

The poorest people in the U.S. face the most acute shortages of affordable homes. But the majority of low-income housing financed in recent years is for those earning 50% of an area’s median income or above, according to a survey of state housing agencies.

Some cities are now seeing an uptick in vacancies as rents for these units approach market rates. The result: Apartments designated as affordable sit empty because the poorest of the poor cannot afford them…

There are only about 4 million affordable rental units available for the country’s 11 million extremely low-income renter households, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s most recent annual report…

Yet homes set aside for these renters were only about 12% of the affordable housing units financed in 2024 by the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit — a federal program providing tax credits to developers in exchange for keeping rents low for at least 30 years, according to figures from the National Council of State Housing Agencies.

This fits with what I have seen with affordable housing in suburbs. When communities are willing to approve and go ahead with affordable housing, they limit the number of units available and the units are priced closer to the market rates than nothing.

So (1) where would such housing be located and (2) who would build it? Communities would need to approve housing for the poorest people living in the US. Few might be willing to do this. And even with incentives (such as the LIHTC noted above), what builders or developers would be interested in constructing these units?

The American public may have soured on public housing but it did provide a housing option for those who needed it. If there are not enough units available in the private market, where are they supposed to come from? And there needs to be some public and political will to address this concern or housing will continue to be for thseo with more resources.