Every year more than 10,000 Taxpayer-funded public housing units are lost to disrepair, but federal lawmakers systematically ignore the total amount, about 115 billion dollarsnecessary to maintain the units in “decent, safe and sanitary” conditions.
One-time funding for public housing repairs was removed from the final version of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to appeal to centrist Senate Democrats who cited the cost.
The results have been disastrous for the more than 1 million people who rely on public housing, mostly low-income, Black and Hispanic tenants, especially as rent prices and eviction rates soar.
It’s not just a housing affordability issue; it’s also a public health imperative. Research shows that living in abandoned housing contributes to higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, asthma, violence and other life-threatening risks.
Exposure to mold allergens, cockroaches, mice and dust mites are major contributors to childhood asthma. Deteriorating conditions can send people to the emergency room for falls and injuries. And toxic pollutants contribute to cardiovascular health problems.
Earlier this year, my colleague Fred Clasen-Kelly I traveled to Yamacraw Village, a public housing complex in downtown Savannah, Georgia. We spoke to residents who told us about mold, rats and roaches that make them sick, and gunshots that disrupt their sleep. One former resident said he takes an allergy pill every day, years after leaving, because of mold exposure in his Yamacraw unit.
Last year, a consultants’ report found a number of problems at Yamacraw, including water leaks and faulty wiring. They estimated the property’s “remaining useful life” to be 0 years.
In a city where the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is more than $1,600 monthly and the waiting list for housing assistance is more than 3.000 families in it, records show that most of the 315 Apartments in Yamacraw are empty because many units are uninhabitable.
The local housing authority argues that without more federal funding, there is not much it can do.
Beginning with the Nixon administration, lawmakers slowed investment in new public housing as more black families and other people of color became renters. And during the Clinton administration, a moratorium was passed effectively banning the construction of additional public housing units, because lawmakers became disillusioned with public housing after years of their own disinvestment.
Now a handful of Democratic lawmakers are calling for Congress to take another look at the issue of public housing.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (DN.Y.), Senator. Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and others recently introduced a bill that would create a new public housing authority to support the construction of more affordable housing. It would also lift a 25-year moratorium on public housing construction and allocate additional funding for public housing repairs.
But many Republicans oppose federally funded public housing, as do centrist Democrats. It’s unclear whether either the Trump or Harris administration would prioritize additional funding for public housing.
This is no surprise to Detraya Gilliardwhose 15-year-old daughter Desaray was shot and killed while living in Yamacraw Village. Gilliard is suing the Savannah Housing Authorityalleging that the agency failed to take additional security measures at its public housing complexes.
Gilliard left Yamacraw and returned only to maintain a memorial to her daughter. “Nothing has changed before, after or since” her daughter’s death, she said.
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