
          Affordable Housing Shortage at Crisis Stage
          By StaffStaff
          Vol. 11, No. 4, 1989, p. 23
          
          A growing lack of affordable housing has reached a crisis stage for
blacks and Hispanics, as well as for low_income Americans in general,
according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
          Over half of poor blacks, Hispanics, and whites actually pay more
than half of their incomes for housing. The U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development considers housing affordable if it does not
consume more than 30 percent of a household's income. Actually, two
out of five families pay at least 70 percent of their income for
housing, according to a recent report based on a 1985 study by the
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
          Substandard housing is a particular problem for
minorities. One-third of all blacks and Hispanics lived in substandard
housing in 1985, compared to 13.5 percent of poor whites that lived in
substandard housing. For example, while black and Hispanic households
make up 17 percent of all households in the United_States, these
groups make up 42 percent of those occupying such substandard
conditions as units with holes in the floor or evidence of rats.
          According to Edward Lazere, the principal author of the report on
the study, "These high housing cost burdens are likely
to have contributed substantially to the growing problem of
homelessness and to have intensified other problems such as the rising
incidence of hunger. When poor families spend so much of their limited
incomes for housing, little money remains for other necessities.
          Among whites, black and Hispanics alike, substandard housing was
most widespread in the South. Some 70 percent of all blacks living in
substandard housing--and about half of all Hispanics and whites living
in substandard housing--lived in the South, including Texas.
          
            Grants Available for Aid to Homeless in South
          
          Several projects in the South are among those in 34 states and the
District of Columbia which were recently awarded grants under the
Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act.
          A total of $89.2 million was awarded in June and July, with the
largest share going to projects for homeless families with
children. New_York got 35 percent of the funding, or $25.8 million.
          In the South, project locations receiving funds for transitional
housing included Clearwater, Fla.; Atlanta; Huntsville, Ala.; and
Batesville, Ark. Transitional housing assistance is intended for
short-term help for homeless families with children or for the
chronically mental ill. Such assistance usually involves a sponsor who
arranges for services that help achieve independence. Job training,
education, and half-way programs are examples.
          For permanent housing, states themselves are the sponsors. Both
Kentucky and Mississippi were among the states receiving
grants. Low-cost financing and other ways around the housing barrier
are the typical approaches of such efforts.
        
