Facts on Family Homelessness

In this week's "Facts on Family Homelessness" we highlight the facts on the "Lack of Affordable Housing" thanks to familyhomelessness.org.

As you will notice, these statistics are astronomical. The Solutions University model is committed to directly aiding families in having the opportunity to move into affordable housing once they are ready to do so. This is the challenge we face on a day-to-day basis; the more off campus housing we can afford to purchase, the greater our chances are of permanently solving family homelessness. Our campus has the ability to only house a certain number of residents and therefore it becomes critical to be able to move them to off campus housing. As the residents move from on campus, to off campus housing they are allowing themselves enough time to be able to enter the normal renting market in a stable and secure manner. As we accomplish this, we accomplish solving family homelessness!

Lack of Affordable Housing:

In a detailed analysis of the US rental market, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition concluded that our country is experiencing a significant and prolonged shortage of affordable housing.

- 1.7 million housing units are needed to fill the gap in affordable housing for extremely low-income households.

Housing costs outpace wages.

- A full-time worker earning minimum wage cannot afford a one-bedroom unit priced at the Fair Market Rent anywhere in the United States. Nationally, a full-time worker must earn $17.32 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent.

One in seven US households – 37.3 million – has severe housing cost burdens. Most of these households (78%) are in the bottom quarter of the income distribution (earning $23,000 or less annually).

Federal support for low-income housing has fallen 49% from 1980-2003.

- The average wait for public housing is twenty months. The average wait for a Section 8 Voucher is thirty-five months.