U.S. Poorest Struggle for Housing Amidst Empty Affordable Units
The poorest individuals in the U.S. are facing a severe shortage of affordable housing, even as thousands of units designated as 'affordable' remain vacant. Mathew Davis, a resident of a homeless shelter in Austin, Texas, exemplifies this struggle, earning too little from plasma donations to afford even basic housing options. In Austin alone, nearly 16% of the city's 4,500 affordable units are empty. This paradox stems from the fact that the majority of recently financed low-income housing targets individuals earning 50% or more of an area's median income (AMI), rather than the extremely low-income population. For instance, in Austin, a single person earning roughly $47,000 annually qualifies for many affordable units, while someone earning under $28,000, considered extremely low-income, struggles to find suitable options. This disparity means that while there are approximately 4 million affordable rental units available, they are insufficient for the 11 million extremely low-income renter households in th... 
