By Taylor Williams A severe shortage of affordable housing that has been building for years and may soon be exacerbated by the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium is forcing developers to be more aggressive and innovative in terms of how they add much-needed supply in dense, high-growth markets. According to a 2020 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, when it comes to housing that American renters whose incomes levels are at or below 30 percent of their area median income (AMI) can afford, the United States comes up about 7 million units short. On average, for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in the country, there are only 36 affordable housing units. In addition, there is considerable overlap between renters whose incomes dictate that they seek housing that has been designated as affordable or workforce and industries that have been hard hit by COVID-19, most commonly the retail and hospitality sectors. The federal mandate that prohibits evicting renters who cannot pay rent due to COVID-related job losses has served to keep units occupied and the supply-demand imbalance from worsening — for the time being. Rental collection rates for affordable housing properties have not fluctuated much during prime …
