AUSTIN, TX — People living on the lowest incomes are running into a hard reality across the U.S.: apartments labeled affordable are often out of reach, even when they sit empty. In Austin, a man in a homeless shelter says even a $450-a-month tiny home with no running water would strain his budget. At the same time, thousands of affordable units in the city are vacant.
The mismatch is showing up in several cities, where rents for some subsidized apartments are rising close to market levels. That leaves the poorest renters unable to qualify for, or afford, homes that are technically set aside for lower-income households. The result is a growing gap between housing supply and the people it is meant to serve.
A shelter resident in Austin illustrates the gap between rent and income
Mathew Davis, 49, lives in a homeless shelter in Austin and survives on a few hundred dollars a month from donating blood plasma. He said he would like an apartment of his own, but the math simply does not work for him. Even the cheapest options he can find are far beyond what he can reliably pay.
Davis said he has spent years trying to move out of homelessness, including a stretch of about a year living in his car before getting a bed at the shelter. His frustration reflects the broader problem for extremely low-income renters: having a job or some income does not necessarily mean having enough to cover rent, utilities and basic living costs…