Losing California’s Unsubsidized Affordable Homes

Using a proprietary methodology, the Partnership identifies unsubsidized affordable properties that due to their age, location, or other market factors, offer rents we estimate are affordable to low-income households. In this analysis, we define unsubsidized affordable properties as apartment buildings with five or more units (which is the state’s definition of multifamily housing) where at least half of the apartments have rents affordable to households earning 80% of the median income for that zip code.

Increasingly, these properties are targeted for acquisition and conversion by for-profit entities seeking to maximize rents, leading to the displacement of low-income residents and loss of affordability for future low-income residents. Unless the property is preserved by mission-driven, nonprofit-controlled organizations with the support and oversight of local government housing agencies, unsubsidized affordable housing will eventually become extinct in California given the current rate of loss documented below.

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