NORFOLK, Va. – With soaring rent prices and inflation, the need for affordable housing is more critical than ever. The problem is, there is a lack of affordable homes.
Ukwensi Chappell and his husband rent a home in Norfolk.
“Where we’re living, it’s expensive,” said Chappell.
With the pricey rent coupled with his husband’s recent layoff, Chappell said they’re struggling.
“It’s a little tough, a little tough, but we have high hopes,” he said.
The Biden Administration offering some hope as it tries to make rent more affordable. The White House laid out a new plan Wednesday to expand affordable housing and prevent evictions.
Patrick McCloud is the CEO of the Virginia Apartment Management Association. The organization represents the rental housing industry. McCloud said to make housing more affordable, more homes need to be on the market.
“This is an industry that's driven by supply and demand,” he said. “So, we cannot ignore the things that need to happen at state and local levels, which are things such as, by right zoning, making development for affordable housing easier, getting rid of the barriers to affordable housing. Those are the types of things that I think will all work in combination.”
The White House said 44 million people rent their homes. The Administration said since the pandemic, rental housing has become less affordable with some landlords taking advantage of market conditions to jack up rent, often keeping lower income and minorities out of affordable housing.
The plan includes asking the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to look into background checks and the use of algorithms in tenant screenings to help level the playing field and keep renters in affordable housing.
“We are very happy to see more attention on funding for eviction diversion programs provided those programs don't come with a whole set of strings that make them not palatable and not work efficiently,” McCloud said.
Chappell is staying cautiously optimistic.
“We’re so over all of these empty promises,” said Chappell. “Hopefully this will come to fruition but yeah, any relief would help.”
