Texas Housing Facts

Affordable Housing needs are growing every day. Studies show that housing costs continue to rise while incomes grow at a much slower pace. With almost half of Texans spending more than 30% of their household income on housing costs, the need for Affordable Housing is more important now than ever before. However, current policies do not go far enough to fill the gap of affordable units needed. For example, in Texas, there are just 30 units available per 100 Extremely Low Income (ELI) renters (according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition 2018 Gap Report). Extremely Low Income is defined as households with income at or below the Poverty Guideline or 30% of AMI, whichever is higher. This statistic, however, doesn’t include the population of Very Low Income and Low Income Households defined as households earning 31% – 80% of Area Median Income.

Affordable Housing Initiatives in Major Texas Metros

Austin

In 2012, the City of Austin adopted their Imagine Austin Comprehensive Plan which provides a framework for its community goals by 2039, the 200th anniversary of the city’s founding. A building block of this plan is housing and neighborhood policies. Aligning with this plan and CodeNext, Austin’s Strategic Housing Blueprint lays down the city’s plan to provide affordable housing in every city council district.

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Dallas

In 2017, the Dallas City Council Housing Committee established goals to address housing affordability throughout the city, promote fair housing, and overcome historical patterns of segregation and concentrations of poverty. The culmination of this work is Dallas’ Comprehensive Housing Policy.

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Ft. Worth

The City of Fort Worth Planning and Development Department publishes their guide for making decisions about the city’s growth and development. Included in their Comprehensive Plan is the city’s housing assessment with goals and objectives and policies and strategies. In addition, Fort Worth Housing Solutions releases quarterly news letters and published a 2018 Assessment of Fair Housing for the city.

2018 Comprehensive Plan

Houston

The City of Houston faced one the most devastating natural disasters in 2017, Hurricane Harvey. Their rebuilding efforts have been most salient and will continue for years to come. Their Housing and Community Development Department (HCDD) provides leadership and financing to make homes affordable and facilitate neighborhood revitalization.

In addition, the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University is a think tank that focuses on urban issues through informed research, data and policy analysis. The Institute published a report on how to build a resilient and equitable housing system from the remnants of a natural disaster.

Action Plan for Disaster Recovery

San Antonio

In 2017, the City of San Antonio – Mayor’s Housing Policy Task Force published their roadmap to address the affordability gap by creating a housing system where sustainable, affordable, quality housing is provided by the private sector and market-driven. See their Housing Policy Framework.

Housing Policy Framework

How Affordable Housing Helps Texans

Housing Studies

Lack of affordable rent plagues cities across the United States

Houston makes list of top least affordable cities in the U.S. New research by USC housing experts reveals lack of affordable rent is a bigger problem than previously realized, not only in big coastal cities but across much of the United States.

Study: Rural Affordable Rental Housing

Despite the need for affordable rental housing in rural communities identified, resources made available by the federal government are at a low point.

Strategies for Sustainable Growth in Community Land Trusts

This report aims to fill gaps between the obstacles that have stymied the growth of CLTs and the strategies used by CLTs who have expanded their housing portfolios.

Estimating the Gap in Affordable and Available Rental Units for Families

This study examines the potential gap in the supply of rental units suitable for families with children nationally and in detail in four major metro areas.

Study: Lack of Affordable Housing Affects Health

Housing is central to people’s opportunities for living long and well. Nationwide, housing costs far exceed affordability given local incomes in many communities. As a result, people have no choice but to spend too much on housing, leaving little left for other necessities. In Texas, 13% of households spend more than half of their income on housing costs. Severe housing cost burden ranges from 2% to 24% of households.

The Gap Report March 2019: A Shortage of Affordable Homes

The U.S. has a shortage of seven million rental homes affordable and available to extremely low-income renters, whose household incomes are at or below the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income. Only 37 affordable and available rental homes exist for...

High Rent is Restricting Job Market Growth

From Pacific Standard The cost of housing continues to rise in markets all across the country and Austin is no exception. A recent analysis of data from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies shows that from 1960 to 2016, inflation-adjusted rents increased 61...

Removing Barriers to Accessing High-Productivity Places

Regulatory constraints on housing production have shut millions of Americans out of the country’s most productive labor markets. Historically, Americans have moved to the parts of the country that offered the highest wages and most economic opportunity. This tendency...

The Link Between Affordable Housing and Economic Mobility

Since its creation in 1986, the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) Program has produced nearly 3 million housing units, making it the most important source of funding for affordable housing. Yet despite the importance of LIHTC to the field of affordable housing,...

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