Reasons to Create Affordable Housing Programs

Establishing the principal reason

The importance of defining outcomes and prioritizing them:

Governments create affordable housing programs for one or more reasons. In the best practices, the program created is a specific reflection of its specific target reason.

Because multi-objective programs often fail, before government creates an affordable housing program, it must be clear about the principal reason and the limits of any secondary reasons.

Seven Principal Reasons to Create Affordable Housing Programs

Reason	Problem	Principal Goal
Disconnection	Jobs and housing exist in separate places in effectively different markets.	Either migrate people permanently, increase commutability, or produce new homes in job growth centers.
Affordability	Ample housing exists but at prices far above the target population's ability to pay. (Most often arises in the context of strong economies, continuing immigration or population attraction.)	Lock in rent levels or subsidy streams to assure that target population residents have access to quality housing and are not priced out of the market.
Access	Housing exists but target households cannot rent it because of intangible barriers: e.g. unawareness, ignorance, lack of creditworthiness, or landlord prejudice.	Improve market fluidity and break down intangible barriers through education, networking, sunshine provisions, and equitable remedies.
Poverty Alleviation	Target households cannot afford even the smallest affordable rent delivered in the marketplace.	Raise their rent-paying ability.
Social Welfare	Target households have personal issues that impair or preclude their ability to rent even affordable homes.	Use housing as a means of social services to work with target households.
Supply	The market lacks enough housing of any kind, and as a result affordable housing families are squeezed out of the market	Create more new houses.