By Joshua Holland | Moyers and Company
A series of ugly economic dynamics have come together to create a serious shortage of affordable housing in the US.
The rent is too damn high, and here are some reasons why: Demand for rental properties is way up. Millions of families lost homes in the crash. Others, who might have been able to secure a loan to purchase a home when the banks were handing mortgages out like candy are now unable to meet stricter lending requirements that were put in place after the bubble burst. According to Census data, today’s home ownership rate is around four percentage points lower than it was before the Great Recession.
Supply isn’t keeping up. The crash brought new housing construction to a screeching halt. Typically, builders add around a million housing units per year to keep up with population growth. But between 2008 and 2010, we added only a half million units, and two million more in the three years since then.
