A consistent lack of housing is overburdening affordable rental units across the country.
Most states are coming up short in providing access to reasonably priced apartments, and this includes the Empire State.
Heather, who lives in affordable housing in upstate New York, says it was a journey for her to get into her current home.
“I was technically considered homeless because I didn’t have my own residence,” she said.
A series of personal hardships left her without a roof over her head and her two young children.
She’s grateful she had a safety net.
“I had my parents to fall back on,” said Heather. “Again, I was a single mom. My ex-husband lives in Oklahoma. So, if I didn’t have my parents, I would have probably been at a woman’s shelter.”
Heather is now back on her feet thanks to access to affordable housing, but says the process to get approved had its challenges, especially when it came to the wait time.
In the Capital Region specifically, advocates say the wait times to get into affordable housing can take months, sometimes years.
“When it comes to vouchers, it’s typically a two to three to five year wait depending where you are,” said Canyon Ryan, the executive director of United Tenants of Albany.
To add to the wait time, a 2023 audit by the Office of the New York State Comptroller found state officials weren’t taking full advantage of the available housing funds for federal vouchers, with many areas using less than 85% of available vouchers. This was from the period from 2017 to 2021.
It’s money Ryan says cost-burdened households could use.
“The average issue that we’re coming across is that tenants are paying about as much or more than a mortgage, which is essentially rent control except you get benefits, then no benefits when it comes to paying what is equivalent to a mortgage, the conditions are poor, and then there’s no accountability for landlords,” said Ryan.
