Obama to boost spending on affordable housing
During the long housing boom — which ran from about 2001 through part of 2006 — the median price of existing homes skyrocketed, eventually reaching a high of $230,200 in July of 2006, according to the National Association of Realtors.
That’s changed today. The national median home price now stands at $170,300, the lowest it has been since March of 2003.
This isn’t good news for anyone trying to sell a home. But it’s certainly a welcome development for those hoping to buy one. Let’s face it: During the housing boom, homes were becoming too expensive for an ever-growing number of U.S. residents.
Pres. Barack Obama is now taking steps that may guarantee that lower-income people have more access to quality housing. According to a story by the Associated Press, Obama has proposed a major spending increase for programs that provide housing to the poor and invest in neighborhoods with large concentrations of poverty.
According to the Associated Press story, Obama is recommending an 18.5-percent increase in spending for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This would help the department raise its discretionary spending from $40.1 billion to $47.5 billion.
Obama has also called for a $1-billion trust fund that would be used to rehabilitate housing in the country’s poorest neighborhoods, and is requesting more dollars for a voucher program that subsidizes rental payments.
Finally, Obama’s plan would change a formula used to distribute block grants for community development so that more money would move to the most distressed communities.
You might not agree with everything Obama is promoting here. But you have to give him and his administration credit for at least trying to address the country’s lack of affordable housing. Even as the median price of existing homes fall, good, quality housing remains out of reach for too many residents.
