Housing shortage -- yes, you read that right
In a story today, Josh Mitchell reports on Baltimore County's waiting list for rent subsidies through the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which has grown 30 percent in the last year -- the waiting list, not the program.
The wait list is nearly twice as long as it was four years ago.The problem is being fueled by rising rents and home prices still inflated by the real estate boom, as well as increased costs for utilities and gasoline, housing officials say.
But affordable-housing advocates also say the county government's aggressive push in recent years to redevelop some of the county's oldest neighborhoods - leading to the destruction of thousands of low-priced housing units with few requirements to replace them - has been a significant factor.
Last I checked, there was also a large waiting list in Baltimore.
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Comments
As of June 30, 2007, the City's waiting list was 31,989 households, an increase of 2,512 households from June 30, 2006. The increase would likely have been larger but for the fact that the City's voucher waiting list has been closed since 2003 (except for disabled households and those displaced by government action).
Although the need and demand is increasing, the number of assisted housing units and households served went down over the same period. The decrease especially impacted families with children and to a lesser extent, the elderly. Disabled individuals were the only group that received more assistance.
The bottom line in all these numbers? We shouldn't be suprised to see the problem of homelessness becoming more acute and more visible. When Baltimore County and Baltimore City deliberately take thousands of units out of the market there are consequences for vulnerable households and ripple effects on the market.
Posted by: Barbara Samuels | December 20, 2007 7:41 PM