The Delaware State Housing Authority says the recently released Housing Needs Assessment data confirms what it’s hearing — Delaware households are cost burdened.
Cost burden is when a household pays 30% or more of their income on rent or their mortgage - a reality currently affecting 50% of renters and 20% of homeowners.
DSHA Chief Strategy Advisor Caitlin Del Collo says moving away from single-family detached homes and building more duplexes, triplexes and apartment complexes may be the key to help reduce these statistics.
“Looking forward, we are hoping to spark discussions about ‘how can we facilitate the development of more diverse housing types?’” Del Collo said.
In addition to pointing out high rates of cost burden, the report found large race discrepancies in homeownership for Delaware residents.
DSHA Director of Public Relations Lauri Stovall believes the agency can help address this by bolstering existing resources to reach more people of color.
“The report highlighted the importance of government-backed mortgages, which is something that DSHA does on a daily basis. So continuing to think about how our agency can expand our homeownership reach is one of the takeaways from the housing needs assessment," Stovall said.
But Del Collo and Stovall both stress the need for local jurisdictions, developers and support partners like themselves to work together to implement solutions.
“In order to solve the housing crisis we’re in, we’re going to need everyone, and this housing needs assessment tool is just one way we can all be consistent with how we’re addressing needs on every level," Stovall said.
DSHA is waiting on the full report to be published to continue developing and discussing housing ideas with stakeholders.
