As affordable housing disappears, states scramble to shore up the losses

Associated Press/Report for America

LOS ANGELES (AP) — While Americans continue to struggle under high rents, as many as 223,000 affordable housing units could disappear in the next five years. Those units were built with the federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which gives developers tax credits in exchange for keeping rents low. But there is a catch. The buildings typically only need to be kept affordable for a minimum of 30 years. For the wave of construction in the 1990s, those deadlines are arriving now, threatening to eliminate affordable housing when Americans need it most. Some states are trying to stop the leakage, including with local governments or nonprofits buying the buildings to keep them affordable. But the solutions aren’t airtight, leaving some renters facing huge rent increases, even eviction.