Jeanette Taylor, a Chicago Alderwoman, said she was approved for affordable housing nearly three decades after she applied, showing how difficult it is to find housing in some American states.
According to Business Insider, Jeanette Taylor, the representative for the 20th Ward, announced on Twitter on May 31 that she applied for an affordable housing voucher in 1993. Taylor had to wait 11 years for the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) to respond, and when it did, it was to tell her that her son could not be on the lease.
Taylor received word from the CHA on May 31, after another 18 years of waiting, that she had been approved for the voucher.
Taylor told local Chicago radio station WBBM that when she applied for the voucher, she was a single mother of three children. Taylor had two more children after applying for the voucher, which forced her to raise them in her one-bedroom apartment.
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The alderwoman went on to say that when the CHA contacted her in 2004, it offered her a place to live, but she declined because it was too far from her children’s school and one of her children, who had just graduated from high school, couldn’t be on the lease.
In response to Taylor’s interview, the Chicago Housing Agency stated that it would not comment on individual cases, but that it requires more federal funding to improve its services and wait times. The agency lists estimated wait times for affordable housing, but the majority of wait times for housing larger than a studio or one-bedroom apartment are “over 25 years.”
The Chicago Housing Agency also runs a voucher program, which Taylor applied for, in which families find private rentals and the government subsidizes the cost. The waitlist for that program, however, has been closed. Finding affordable housing is challenging, and the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown the housing market into disarray.
During the pandemic, millions of Americans relocated to big cities and small rural areas, resulting in an increase in home sales and rentals. While selling your home may be profitable, finding another home is sometimes a cause to cry for.
People are now bidding on rentals in many urban cities because the rental market is so tight. Furthermore, supply chain issues, inflation, and climate change are making it difficult to build new housing, which would alleviate the problems. All of these issues have a greater and more devastating impact on Black renters, homeowners, low-income workers, and gig workers.
President Joe Biden has released a plan to ease the housing burden for Americans, but it will take five years to implement, which means it may fall by the wayside if he is not in Office.
