Brooks: The Changing Landscape of Affordable Housing

In The Changing Landscape of Affordable Housing in the Rural and Urban United States, 1990-2016, Matthew M. Brooks (Sociology, McGill University) examines possible determinates of changing availability of affordable housing. Brooks emphasizes three determinates of change in particular: population growth, population aging, and natural amenity development (NAD).

Brooks defines “affordable housing” as households that spend 30 percent or less of their income on housing costs. In 1990, the housing unaffordability rate was at 26.6 percent. By 2016, the unaffordability rate had risen to 32 percent, with persons who rent in the U.S. at 47.4 percent and impoverished households (income <$30,000) at 73.1 percent across the United States. Examining the three determinates previously listed, Brooks searches for an explanation for the rise.

Brooks makes five conclusions. First, he shows that affordable housing has declined by an average of 3.6 percent from 1990 to 2016. Second, he concludes that population growth has a significant association with affordability. Third, Brooks surmises that population growth actually increases housing affordability in metropolitan areas. Fourth, he illustrates that population aging has significant negative effects on both income and housing costs for all types of counties. And finally, Brooks finds no relationship between NAD and rates of affordability

Although acknowledging definitional challenges in distinguishing rural and urban places, Brooks argues that urban places less susceptible to dramatic shifts in affordability. In addition, rural communities often have a specialized or dependent economy focused on one factory or one trade, so relatively small shifts in employment could produce a significant housing change.