Affordable Housing is a Priority Concern for City Planners
When employees can’t find affordable housing (YVHA, 2023, p. 3):
- Workforce declines or cannot grow to meet demand
- Businesses are at risk of leaving the area or failing
In addition, social service agencies can fail to meet local needs:
- Municipalities may begin to experience a shortage of teachers, nurses, police, and service industry workers
- Nonprofits have reduced hours and services because they can’t hire workers
Homeowners Sharing Living Space Should Be Exempted From Some Regulations
Fair housing laws are important and necessary, however, they shouldn’t apply to every housing situation. Certainly someone renting a self-contained unit across town should be prevented from making a prejudiced renter selection. However, renting a room in one’s house is a different matter. For example, for safety concerns, if you have a teenage daughter you have good reason not to rent a room to a man who isn’t a relative. Airbnb rentals are one way around this, but Airbnb is set up for short term rentals. ICmatch is a different way to meet long-term demand for non-conventional rental situations. It makes use of the existing housing stock in the following ways:
- Vulnerable elderly homeowners can find people they feel they can trust and rely on for help.
- People who don’t rent at all, because they might have had a bad experience with renters who damaged their property or were inconsiderate, can select the characteristics of people they invite into their lockoff or extra space.
- With a framing of community rather than purely transactional rentals, people don’t have to open their semi-private spaces to people whose lifestyle may clash with theirs.
- Property owners can make more flexible and unconventional arrangements, such as accepting whole or partial payment in the form of building maintenance or upgrades.
Community Types Sought as Affordable Housing
Many single young adults have explored the following options for affordable housing.
Two of the family-oriented community types also focus on affordability.
Community Types: See other housing types that may be sought as affordable housing.
Rental housing: See the search tips page, which includes options for work trade for housing. See our guide for how to set up a shared rental house.
Changing housing policy: Get informed about how to work with city planners to allow for more helpful zoning and permitting.
Grants
Grants for affordable housing projects in the U.S.: This list can be searched by state. These grants or scholarships can be applied for by individuals. You do not need to have non-profit status or be under the umbrella of a government agency. We are working on further refining the list by topic.
Angus Deaton makes a powerful case that those who are financially comfortable have aggravated populism by neglecting struggling U.S. communities. Many government decision-makers and NGOs favor giving aid to foreign nations, which aid he shows is often mis-spent. You might refer to some of these assertions in your grant writing. See also our discussion of economic disparity.
Options for Those in an Immediate Financial Pinch
Connect with workshare programs: See the worktrade and homesharing sections at this link.
Resident Owned Communities (ROC): This listing is primarily of U.S. mobile home parks that have made the transition from landlord to community ownership. Some offer a plan for low-income individuals to become part of their community.
Here’s how an ICmatch profile might be used to help you find accommodations:
- It validates for property owners that trying out a work-trade could be a realistic supplement to the relatively small rent you’re able to pay. Often people need “permission” or a rebranding to feel like a less conventional option could be workable.
- It shows property owners what kind of work-trade could be arranged, based on your listed skills, even if you can only do work that’s not physically demanding.
- It gives property owners a good sense of your values and habits, without them having to be uncomfortable in asking about personal details that they understandably would like to know about someone they’re inviting to live in or close to their home.
- It might give property owners an assurance that there are resources to help them do the culturally unfamiliar work of clarifying agreements in writing so that everyone can trust that the others will uphold their part, rather than having to keep guessing about the other person’s needs or expectations.
- It might give property owners an assurance that there are resources such as free or low-cost mediators to help as a go-between or third party to resolve difficulties that may come up.