Helpful Tips to Address Middle-Income Housing Scarcity in Cities

The founder and CEO of APPA Real Estate, Aaron Marzwell has worked as a real estate developer throughout his career. Under Aaron Marzwell’s supervision, APPA Real Estate focuses on impact investing and co-living, as well as workforce housing, which provides housing at affordable rates for middle-income employees.

In the United States, middle-income workers have been facing scarce affordable housing. Most affordable housing programs aim to provide housing for households that make less than 60 percent of their cities' median income. Middle-income workers, such as firefighters and teachers, typically earn 80-120 percent of their area median income, which makes them ineligible for low-income affordable housing programs.

To provide workforce housing (housing designed for middle-income workers), both state governments and private landlords have to play critical roles. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has offered a detailed recommendation for some regions of the United States. For example, ULI has recommended creating a dedicated housing trust fund, developing vacant land, rehabilitating underutilized public resources, and nullifying statutes that prevent single-family homeowners from renting out vacant dwelling units on their properties. These strategies can attenuate the scarcity of dwelling units in cities.