Nearly
two-thirds of all poor families live in housing that costs more
than they can afford. One in six poor families live in dilapidated
units. If the incomes of these families were supplemented to help
them pay their housing expenses, the total annual cost would be
about $14 billion. If a comprehensive rehabilitation program were
enacted to bring the quality of their dilapidated housing to
average standards, the total capital requirement would be
approximately $60 billion. Although these figures are daunting, it
is important to remember that every year the federal government
forgives more than $30 billion in tax revenue through home mortgage
interest deductions allowed primarily to middle- and upper-income
homeowners.
Meeting the
housing needs of the poor and near-poor is well beyond the ability
of any private foundation to accomplish on its own. Support for
such large-scale efforts must come from federal, state, and local
sources. The challenge before the philanthropic community is to
identify and test promising programs and to stimulate the
commitment of public and private resources to implement such
programs on a larger scale. The Ford Foundation's early support of
the Neighborhood Housing Services program and Community Development
Corporations is an example of this approach. The Foundation's
support was instrumental in generating public and private support
for the national replication of these programs.
Building new
models is particularly difficult in the late 1980s, however.
Housing price increases during the 1970s and the reduction of
federal subsidies during the 1980s have combined to create growing
problems of both affordability and quality. Although housing
affordability worsened dramatically for all Americans during the
1970s, it approached untenable levels for the poor. In analyzing
the need for low-income housing, three themes recur:
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— The
poor lost income at a historically rapid pace during the inflation
of the 1970s and the recession of the early 1980s.
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— Housing
costs escalated faster for the poor than for any other
group.
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— Cuts in
federal housing subsidies came into full play in the late
1980s.