| Page 2 of 2 < |
Rents Rising Fast, Straining Many Families, Study Says
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
"In the city, we depend on them for lower-income jobs, but people won't have a hope of being able to live close to where they work," she said.
Stewart expressed particular concern for older D.C. renters, many of whom live on fixed incomes and face housing hardship or displacement.
"The most vulnerable are the elderly," she said. "Many live in the city's hottest neighborhoods, where we're seeing some of the most dramatic increases in housing costs."
The price pressure is threatening older renters in such neighborhoods as Mount Pleasant and Takoma Park in Northwest Washington and Ivy City and Deanwood in Northeast Washington, areas that were affordable in the 1990s but are now experiencing rapid cost escalations. Those communities have high concentrations of elderly renters.
The disabled and ex-offenders returning from incarceration are also being affected by rising rental costs, the report said.
Stewart said high rents create a precarious existence for those and other vulnerable groups, contributing to the city's homeless population, which has grown by 3.4 percent over the past year.
"Some of these homeless are people who have some income to pay for housing and basic necessities, but they don't have enough to stabilize their lives," she said. "When any hiccup happens, whether it's a medical emergency or they lose a job that interrupts their income, they have very little flexibility to help make ends meet and sustain their rent."
The report said high rents also could imperil services for the homeless, because many of the free meal programs and emergency shelters are in neighborhoods, particularly Mount Pleasant, with hot housing markets.
Fannie Mae's Stewart and the Urban Institute's Turner said the District needs to take steps to get more housing units on the market to decrease the pressure on home prices and rents. The city also needs to preserve its affordable housing stock, expand programs that subsidize rental housing for low-income renters and possibly even buy land for future construction of affordable units.
"There's not a one-size-fits-all strategy to address all of these affordability challenges," Stewart said. "There could be different strategies within the city depending on which neighborhood you are trying to impact."
