A combination of rapidly increasing rents, low wages and little political support has created a situation where evictions become inescapable for thousands of South Carolina families.<\/p>\n
People renting in Columbia, South Carolina, are evicted at the 8th highest rate in the country, according to recently released data collected by Princeton University researchers and nonprofits.<\/p>\n
The state leads the country in evictions per household. While the data isn\u2019t comprehensive \u2014 three states have no data at all, and selected counties are missing \u2014 the study shows an epidemic of evictions across South Carolina.<\/p>\n
And the problem in Columbia is only getting worse. About 8 percent of households were evicted in 2016, up from 3-4 percent in every year 2010-2015.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe environment in which we live is hostile to the working-class citizens of our state and even more hostile to people who are of less means,\u201d said state Sen.\u00a0Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston. \u201cWe\u2019re taking, taking, taking more away. And somehow, we expect for this society to coexist. When people work 40 hours a week and still don\u2019t earn a livable wage, still are not able to get health care, still are not able to provide a place to live, we\u2019ve got a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kimpson recently was awarded Clementa Pinckney Elected Official of the Year for his work toward affordable housing in the State House. The award is named for the late state Sen. Clementa Pinckney, who was killed in the 2015 shooting at the church he pastored, Emmanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston.<\/p>\n
North Charleston, No. 1 in the country for evictions per household, is in his district. \u00a0He\u2019s sponsored bills that would allow local governments more leeway to encourage affordable housing, create tax credits for developers to build low-income housing, and increase funding to affordable housing trust funds. None became anywhere close to law.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not the will of this body to pass it,\u201d Kimpson said. Even the eviction information hasn\u2019t spurred interest. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been one conversation on the Senate floor about the data,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Todd Shaw, chairman of University of South Carolina’s political science department, \u00a0sees a connection between evictions now and homeless in the 1980s. Both have always been around, but quantifying the problem can provide\u00a0an impetus for discussion.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was a whole discussion, particularly at the end of the Carter and into the Reagan administration, about homelessness as a growing problem,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cThis crisis of affordable housing has actually been going on for decades now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Particularly in Columbia, affordable housing has become increasingly difficult to find. The Richland County rental occupancy rate has fallen to 6 percent, and a recent student housing boom offering expensive amenities has allowed other landlords to jack up rents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s where government has to step in. Government has to say, \u2018We recognize you\u2019re not going to be able to meet that demand,\u2019\u201d Shaw said. \u201cUnfortunately, government has been moving in the other direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Just last week, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson announced rent hikes and potential work requirements for public housing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition to turning a blind eye to wages in this country, there\u2019s been a systematic attempt to defund the programs that help people pay for public housing,\u201d Kimpson said.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-02-at-11.52.37-AM.png\")
<\/p>\n
In August of 2016, the Columbia Housing Authority opened applications for its housing voucher program for the first time in three years. The vouchers subsidize rent for families earning below 50 percent of the area\u2019s median income. In just over 48 hours, more than 32,000 families submitted applications.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we advertised it, I think we knew we were going to get a lot of applications,\u201d Nancy Stoudenmire, the director of human resources and planning, said. \u201cI don\u2019t think any of us knew quite how many applications.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stoudenmire has worked for the housing authority since 1977, about the time voucher use was starting to replace large construction projects in affordable housing policy. Since then, national programs have favored tearing down dense projects and replacing them with mixed-income communities. The problem, she said, is that the total number of units decreases.<\/p>\n
While vouchers allow families to find their own housing, it also obligates them to find housing cheaper than the regional fair market rent, decided by the federal Housing and Urban Development department. Columbia is in a region with three rural counties, which drives down the estimate. In 2018, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit is $891, including utilities. That\u2019s virtually impossible to find downtown, where students are willing to pay from $600 to $1,000 per bed.<\/p>\n
The student housing developments, which added about 5,000 units in the last four years, were encouraged by local tax abatements provided by the city. Other abatement programs have encouraged renovations of old and historic buildings. To date, no such abatements have been offered for affordable housing developers.![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-02-at-11.54.12-AM.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cCity Council and (Richland) County Council could create incentives for developers to build affordable housing and they\u2019re not,\u201d Stoudenmire said. \u201cWe even had one council member say he didn\u2019t want to build housing for poor people. I sat there in that meeting and I was shell-shocked. I couldn\u2019t believe anyone was that short-sighted.\u201d<\/p>\n
The city voted in February a renewed effort for affordable housing, but guidelines for new incentives aren\u2019t likely to come out until October, according to Gloria Saeed of the Columbia Housing Development Corp.\u00a0 A quarter million dollars per year will be added to the quarter million already available in loans for developers building affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Lila Anna Sauls, the president and CEO of Homeless No More, thinks nonprofits could be part of the solution to the affordable housing crisis. Columbia-based Homeless No More, which already provides some long-term rentals for previously homeless families, is starting construction on a 16-unit affordable housing development. The project is expected to cost $2.6 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think nonprofits are going to have to start stepping up more and figuring out creative ways to do affordable housing,\u201d Sauls said. \u201cThe only issue is we\u2019re not going to be able to do hundreds of units at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like Stoudenmire and the Housing Authority, Homeless No More doesn\u2019t consider evictions the same way traditional housing managers might when accepting families for housing. Almost everyone the nonprofit helps have faced evictions in some form, Sauls said. With the 11 units currently managed by Homeless no more, tenants pay between $450 and $575 for three or four bedroom units. Not a single tenant has been evicted, although one came close.<\/p>\n
Even with costs that low, though, single income families can struggle to pay rent. For someone working full time and making minimum wage, a rent of about $375 is considered affordable, according to federal guidelines that say only 30 percent of income should go toward rent.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/carolinanewsandreporter.cic.sc.edu\/test\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Screen-Shot-2018-05-02-at-11.52.59-AM.png\")
<\/p>\n
\u201cThe bottom line is, our families need to make more money,\u201d Sauls said. \u201cI think housing is the hub of the wheel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Without housing or a mailing address, families lose out on other benefits like food stamps and other types of federal aid. It also makes it more difficult to find a job.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d go so far as to say that if you solved the housing crisis in America, you\u2019d solve the poverty problem in America,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cThat\u2019s how important having a home and having a place to live that is safe and affordable is to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav _builder_version=”3.7″ prev_text=”Read first article in this series” in_same_term=”off” show_next=”off” title_font=”|700|||||||” title_text_color=”#77000a” title_font_size=”17px” custom_margin=”10px|||” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
South Carolina leads the country in evictions per renting household. And it’s only getting worse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":10033,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
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People renting in Columbia, South Carolina, are evicted at the 8th highest rate in the country, according to recently released data collected by Princeton University researchers and nonprofits. The state leads the country in evictions per household. While the data isn\u2019t comprehensive \u2014 three states have no data at all, and selected counties are missing \u2014 the study shows an epidemic of evictions across South Carolina.<\/p>
And the problem in Columbia is only getting worse. About 8 percent of households were evicted in 2016, up from 3-4 percent in every year 2010-2015.<\/p>
A combination of rapidly increasing rents, low wages and little political support has created a situation where evictions become inescapable for thousands of families.<\/p>
--<\/p>
\u201cThe environment in which we live is hostile to the working-class citizens of our state and even more hostile to people who are of less means,\u201d said state senator Marlon Kimpson, D-Charleston. \u201cWe\u2019re taking, taking, taking more away. And somehow, we expect for this society to coexist. When people work 40 hours a week and still don\u2019t earn a livable wage, still are not able to get health care, still are not able to provide a place to live, we\u2019ve got a problem.\u201d<\/p>
Kimpson recently was awarded Clementa Pinckney Elected Official of the Year for his work toward affordable housing in the State House. North Charleston, No. 1 in the country for evictions per household, is in his district. He\u2019s sponsored bills that would allow local governments more leeway to encourage affordable housing, create tax credits for developers to build low-income housing, and increase funding to affordable housing trust funds. None became anywhere close to law.<\/p>
\u201cIt\u2019s not the will of this body to pass it,\u201d Kimpson said. Even the eviction information hasn\u2019t spurred interest. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been one conversation on the senate floor about the data,\u201d he said.<\/p>
Political science department chair at USC Todd Shaw sees a connection between evictions now and homeless in the \u201880s. Both have always been around, but quantifying the problem can provides an impetus for discussion.<\/p>
\u201cThere was a whole discussion, particularly at the end of the Carter and into the Reagan administration, about homelessness as a growing problem,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cThis crisis of affordable housing has actually been going on for decades now.\u201d<\/p>
Particularly in Columbia, affordable housing has become increasingly difficult to find. The Richland County rental occupancy rate has fallen to 6 percent, and a recent student housing boom selling per-bed and offering expensive amenities has allowed other landlords to jack up rents.<\/p>
\u201cThat\u2019s where government has to step in. Government has to say, \u2018We recognize you\u2019re not going to be able to meet that demand,\u2019\u201d Shaw said. \u201cUnfortunately, government has been moving in the other direction.\u201d<\/p>
Just last week, secretary of housing and urban development Ben Carson announced rent hikes and potential work requirements for public housing.<\/p>
\u201cIn addition to turning a blind eye to wages in this country, there\u2019s been a systematic attempt to defund the programs that help people pay for public housing,\u201d Kimpson said.<\/p>
--<\/p>
In August of 2016, the Columbia Housing Authority opened applications for its housing voucher program for the first time in three years. The vouchers subsidize rent for families earning below 50 percent of the area\u2019s median income. In just over 48 hours, more than 32,000 families submitted applications.<\/p>
\u201cWhen we advertised it, I think we knew we were going to get a lot of applications,\u201d director of human resources and planning Nancy Stoudenmire. \u201cI don\u2019t think any of us knew quite how many applications.\u201d<\/p>
Stoudenmire has worked for the housing authority since 1977, just around when voucher use was starting to replace large construction projects in affordable housing policy. Since then, national programs have favored tearing down dense projects and replacing them with mixed income communities. The problem, she said, is that the total number of units decreases.<\/p>
While vouchers allow families to find their own housing, it also obligates them to find housing cheaper than the regional fair market rent, decided by the national Housing and Urban Development department. Columbia is in a region with three rural counties, which drives down the estimate. In 2018, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom unit is $891, including utilities. That\u2019s virtually impossible to find downtown, where students are willing to pay from $600 to $1000 per bed.<\/p>
The student housing developments, which will have added about 5,000 units in the last four years, were encouraged by local tax abatements provided by the city. Other abatement programs have encouraged renovations of old and historic buildings. To date, no such abatements have been offered for affordable housing developers.<\/p>
\u201cCity Council and County Council could create incentives for developers to build affordable housing and they\u2019re not,\u201d Stoudenmire said. \u201cWe even had one council member say he didn\u2019t want to build housing for poor people. I sat there in that meeting and I was shell shocked. I couldn\u2019t believe anyone was that short-sided.\u201d<\/p>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The city voted in Feburary a renewed effort for affordable housing, but guidelines for new incentives aren\u2019t likely to come out until October, according to Gloria Saeed of the Columbia Housing Development Corporation. A quarter million per year will be added to the quarter million already available in loans for developers building affordable housing.<\/p>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lila Anna Sauls, the president and CEO of Homeless No More, is taking the affordable housing shortage into the hands of nonprofits. Homeless No More, which already provides some long-term rentals for previously homeless families, is starting construction on a 16 unit affordable housing development. The project is expected to cost $2.6 million.<\/p>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI think nonprofits are going to have to start stepping up more and figuring out creative ways to do affordable housing,\u201d Sauls said. \u201cThe only issue is we\u2019re not going to be able to do hundreds of units at a time.\u201d<\/p>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Like Stoudenmire and the Housing Authority, Homeless No More doesn\u2019t consider evictions as seriously as traditional housing managers might when placing families into housing. Almost everyone the nonprofit helps have faced evictions in some form, Sauls said. With the 11 units currently managed by Homeless no more, tenants pay between $450 and $575 for three or four bedroom units. Not a single tenant has been evicted, although one came close.<\/p>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Even with costs that low, though, single income families can struggle to pay rent. For someone working full time and making minimum wage, a rent of $377 is considered affordable, according to federal guidelines that say only 30 percent of income should go toward rent.<\/p>
\u201cThe bottom line is, our families need to make more money,\u201d Sauls said. \u201cI think housing is the hub of the wheel.\u201d<\/p>
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Without housing or a mailing address, families lose out on other benefits like food stamps and other types of federal aid. It also makes it more difficult to find a job.<\/p>
\u201cI\u2019d go so far as to say that if you solved the housing crisis in America, you\u2019d solve the poverty problem in America,\u201d Shaw said. \u201cThat\u2019s how important having a home and having a place to live that is safe and affordable is to people.\u201d<\/p>
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