PRESERVING AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING -- part 8

PRESERVING AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING

Muha said more affordable rental housing can be preserved by providing tax relief to owners of aging Section 8 (low income housing) portfolios in exchange for selling the properties to new owners that will recapitalize them to remain affordable for years to come.

She notes that current tax laws act as a disincentive for investors in certain properties to consent to a sale to a new entity that would rehabilitate and extend the life of affordable apartment complexes.

“It is shameful that in the richest country in the world, a worker earning two times the minimum wage is living in substandard housing or doing without sufficient food, medicine, etc. to pay the rent.” Muha said. “Americans have lost interest and as a result, so has our federal government, in ensuring that our citizens have a decent and safe place to live. Until housing becomes a priority on the national agenda, there will be families and elderly and disabled folks living in substandard housing.”