Increasing the Housing Supply, Part 1: Expanding Home Sharing
The shortage of housing—especially housing that is affordable, is a root cause of the many problems related to housing today. The shortage of something as essential as housing attracts speculative investors and private equity firms that want to maximize profits from renting out homes or apartments. The lack of choices in lower-cost housing increases the power of predatory landlords and the eviction industry that exploit vulnerable people who lack options. Market forces are simply not creating enough of the types of housing that are most needed—housing that can be rented or owned by individuals with relatively low or fixed incomes.
This day has several sessions on how different models of home sharing can quickly increase the supply of housing by better using the housing that is already built. This is very valuable in many ways—including being good for the environment. But, the session is not limited to only strategies for increasing home sharing. It will showcase a must-see example of how South Dakota has been providing new, and ownable homes to thousands of low-income residents through an innovative program that should be replicated (and adapted) to many other states or regions.
The day also features an important strategy for developing housing that can be reasonably profitable while much better meeting the needs of low-income households.
Participants will also learn about the Housing Supply and Affordability Act (HSAA) that will likely provide hundreds of millions of dollars per year to support local coalitions in developing policies and strategies to improve the housing supply.
