Affordable multi-family housing: risks and opportunities

This report includes a set of policy and programmatic considerations aimed at addressing the challenges facing Houston and Harris County in the effort to build adequate and safe housing supplies. The policy options range from securing additional streams of funding, to building more housing in areas with lower flood risks, to reducing the vulnerability of existing units. 

Hundreds of thousands of families in Houston and Harris County face a crisis of housing affordability. Half of all renters are burdened with high housing costs. The region does not have enough affordable multi-family housing to meet the need, only one of every 17 households receive some form of housing assistance, while renter families who are housing cost burdened and have incomes less than $20,000 represent one of every 11 households in Harris County.

Compounding the challenge, more than 165,000 multi-family units are vulnerable to flooding. The more than 475,000 people who live in these units often face multiple vulnerabilities. Further, updated floodplain maps will likely bring tens of thousands more of the region’s residents into areas of elevated risk. Expanding efforts to identify, preserve, and build safe, affordable multi-family housing for the residents of Houston and Harris County can help to address this crisis.