Our Contribution to Housing Security In Our Community

Our city, like most cities throughout the United States, is seeing a rise in the number of individuals and families that can’t afford a place to live.  We decided that our contribution to housing security in our community would be one of our areas of intention. 

The average cost of rent in our city is over $1200 a month. That’s a far cry from the $400 rent that I paid 17 years ago when I got my first apartment.

We live close to our city center so we frequently drive or walk past different social service agencies.  These agencies focus on addressing systemic challenges such as hunger/food insecurity, unemployment, homelessness, and utility assistance.  Lately, we’ve noticed those lines getting longer.

Times have changed, the economy has changed. Those changes have resulted in lots of economic development. That development contributes to an influx of people moving here year after year and more demand creates rising home prices and rental rates. 

Not only have these increased housing costs contributed to the number of homeless citizens, but the pandemic also has! This combination along with the local shelters exceeding capacity has resulted in more people living on the streets. More tents and makeshift shelters in alleys, under highways, and in any open space that allows it. We see it constantly and rest assured that we are making the right decision.

Now more than ever I think about those most vulnerable. Old man winter is around the corner, but the temperature already feels like winter has begun.  When I woke up this morning, it was 26^oF. Yikes!  

Before the birth of each child, we bought a rental property. We always knew we wanted to invest in real estate and use it as a wealth-building tool. We made intentional plans to work toward securing our family’s future. 

While this was a strategic move to help us acquire wealth, we also knew that we wanted to use real estate as our contribution to the growing issue of housing insecurity in our community. And we didn’t see any reason why we couldn’t do both. 

Going into this, we decided to keep our rental properties at reasonable rates and under the going market rental value.  It was an intentional decision from the very beginning. Obviously we can’t afford to have someone stay in the properties rent-free and we need to make a profit to keep this going. But we’ve limited our profit margin. 

Over the years, we’ve kept the rents very stable. Some years we do a small increase so that we can cover any additional taxes and carrying costs.  Some years, we don’t increase it at all. It is one small way of investing in our community and providing stability to a family. 

We are happy to say that we have really good tenants that care about where they live and keep the properties well maintained.  I say this for two reasons:

1. To dispel the myth that charging less in rent will automatically result in bad tenants.

2. To demonstrate that owning rental properties doesn’t have to be solely about how much you can profit. 

We understand the plight of those most susceptible to housing insecurity.  In reality, many of us are one paycheck away from homelessness. We also understand that without an affordable place to live, they could be one of the many families on the affordable housing waitlist. A waitlist that at times takes years to finally find a placement for some recipients.

Hopefully, we can buy more properties in the future and provide reasonably priced housing.

What is the housing market like in your area? Are you seeing some of the same effects that we are?

With Intention,

Sean and Simone

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