Preservation of Affordable Housing (Part 1)

In the last half century, the United States government has launched several different programs in attempt to provide affordable housing for low-income Americans. The programs, which went through many changes in how they were handled and funded, were problematic in that the housing either deteriorated badly or was converted to expensive private-market units. The early problems in the affordable housing industry lead to a major push to preserve affordable units, which would keep them available for low-income citizens while, at the same time, maintaining their quality. In the graphic below, we take a look at the different types of affordable housing programs throughout the years which would eventually lead to the push for the preservation of affordable housing.

Part 2 of this post will look at the affordable housing reform and the benefits of the modern day LIHTC program.