Creating enough affordable housing to meet the need in Massachusetts has been a challenge for decades, one we have failed to meet. Now the shutdown associated with the coronavirus pandemic has escalated this challenge to a critical level and puts at risk the successes that we have achieved in providing high quality affordable housing.
The financial impact has been broad, but apartment renters have been particularly hard hit. Almost 30 percent of people who rent in the commonwealth have missed some rent since April, according to a survey by The MassINC Polling Group. Most of the distress is concentrated among those who make less than $50,000 annually, those with a high-school education or less, Hispanic and Black residents, and people under 30.
Nationally, a Pew Research Center report found that the impact of the pandemic falls most heavily on low-income adults, 52 percent saying they or someone in the family have lost a job or had pay cut. Only about a fourth said they had enough funds to cover expenses for three months if they were out of work. Continued here