Why Lack Of Housing Causes Homelessness

Modesto has topped the list of the country’s least affordable new home markets. Driving around Modesto, you will see for-sale signs everywhere. Also, when you go around Modesto, you will see so many abandoned homes with and without sale signs. You will see people living on sidewalks in tents you will see people living in RV homes on the side of the road or in RVs on abandoned empty lots. The housing market is very unaffordable for the cost that people can afford in Stanislaus County.

The cost of building a new home price in the Modesto region is $450,000. To afford the $39,000 down payment, Modesto residents need an income of about $128,000 a year. But the average household income here is just over $76,000. New homes are being built everywhere, but the matter is that they are very unaffordable for this community. With COVID and the cost of living going up so much in the past year for many people, it's tough even to make ends meet right now, let alone have the funds to purchase a home. The unemployment rate in Modesto, CA, is 7.1 as of January 2022. To rent a home, you have to make three times the rent have excellent credit, and have a perfect employment background. COVID threw a wrench in all of that. People lost their jobs, cut their hours, and lost their spouses, the breadwinners. Rent prices have gone up about 21% just in the past year. The typical apartment rent in a one-bedroom in Modesto and Stanislaus County is now $1,560. That’s higher than in Seattle, Washington D.C., and New York City.

The average price for rent in Stanislaus County has gone up about 26 percent since last year.

The good thing is Stanislaus County does offer housing assistance through Section 8 programs. It is tough to get on these programs. It could take up to 10 years. The people who are already on these programs getting help are fortunate. They don't need to have three times the rent, and they don't need an employment history because they aren't paying the rent. The county is paying the rent for them. They only pay 30% of their income towards the rent. On the same note finding a landlord to accept Section 8 can be difficult due to the reputation of some people who ruined houses because they don't care. The hopes of the housing market leveling out and becoming affordable in Stanislaus County are looking very slim unless you have a good-paying job and an excellent rental history.