Housing subsidies are needed in the region. The current housing crisis is not something that we can build our way out of with market-rate housing alone. It will require significant incentives, subsidies and funding as the private market cannot produce housing affordable to these households without public intervention.
PSRC fielded the Housing Incentives and Tools Survey (HITS) in the summer of 2022 to local jurisdictions to better understand how tools, incentives and strategies are being used and which are having the biggest impact on increasing housing development and affordability.
What is happening to address subsidy needs?
The 2022 Housing Incentives and Tools survey findings show local jurisdictions are working to address affordability challenges in local housing work by utilizing subregional partnerships and state-level subsidies.
Subregional partnerships allow local jurisdictions to pool resources – funding, staff capacity, and technical expertise – to address specific challenges that impact the larger community as a whole.
State and local revenue sources are also utilized by local jurisdictions to help construct or maintain affordable housing. 31 respondents to the survey indicated they are using at least one funding source for affordable housing development.
What are the gaps in addressing subsidy needs?
While survey responses indicate a regional trend towards more subsidization of housing development, the region is still far from meeting its housing need for very affordable housing. To catch up, more action at all levels – state, regional, and local – is needed to provide the necessary funding and resources for affordable housing.
The full survey results are available on our website. Look for the other blog posts on the survey in this series: Supply and Stability.
