How Affordable Housing Benefits Community

Housing affordability promotes diversity and helps build and maintain communities.  

​The stability of housing that’s affordable influences a sense of loyalty among residents in their communities, supports diverse populations, and creates safer environments. 

• When families aren’t concerned about finding an affordable place to live or affording rent, they're more likely to focus on:

• bonding with neighbors (1),  
• attending community events (1),  
• spending money at nearby businesses (2) (3),  
• establishing long-term relationships (1),  
• investing in their neighborhoods (4), 
• investing in their child’s futures (4). 

• This creates a sense of belonging and unity (1), which could encourage residents to stay in their communities (3) and reduce crime rates, leading to safer neighborhoods (1).  
• A variety of housing options attracts a more diverse workforce (1), which:  

• influences innovation, creativity, and competition (1),  
• gives businesses larger and more diverse talent pools (1),  
• Provides nearby job opportunities, which reduces the need for commuting or relocating (1).  

• Less commuting and more access to public transit helps low-income residents:  

• save money on cars (gas, maintenance, insurance, etc.) (5),  
• access to jobs and resources (5),  
• reduces traffic congestion, air pollution, wear and tear on roads, etc. (6).

Housing options that are accessible to diverse income levels can generate various types of revenue that can be used to improve the infrastructure, look, and overall well-being of a neighborhood.  

• Increasing housing options that people at various income levels can afford:  

• reduces the number of vacant lots and dilapidated buildings in neighborhoods (6), 
• generates millions of dollars in local income (2),  
• creates hundreds of local jobs (6) (7),  
• influences upgrades to water and sewer lines, electricity capacity, roads, and mass transit (6) (2).

Housing options for people with diverse income levels prevents and reduces housing instability. 

• Supportive housing is the most successful intervention yet developed for ending homelessness among the most vulnerable populations (7). 

• Unaffordable housing is the biggest contributor to being unhoused (10). Access to decent housing for people with various income levels provides critical stability for families (5), which reduces evictions (2) and the overall risk that vulnerable families will become unhoused (5). 

• Communities wind up paying for what the government spends on shelters, emergency room visits, and jail time for unhoused people through taxation (10).  

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