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Housing Solutions
Developing an anti-displacement strateg
Rising rents or property taxes can make it difficult or impossible for families to afford to remain in their homes. In many instances, displaced residents and businesses struggle to find comparably affordable, transit-connected locations for relocation. The resulting housing instability and insecurity can adversely impact their overall well-being.
This brief provides guidance on how localities can develop an anti-displacement strategy in neighborhoods experiencing rising rents and home prices. This includes preserving housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income households and preventing displacement among existing residents who struggle to afford the higher housing costs. We propose four main categories of an anti-displacement strategy:
- Plan ahead to identify the neighborhoods (or other areas) where action may be needed to preserve affordable housing opportunities for low- and moderate-income households
- Protect long-term residents from the adverse effects of rising rents and home prices
- Preserve existing affordable housing
- Produce additional dedicated affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households
Our framework adds a fourth P (to denote Plan), to the widely used 3P’s (Protect, Preserve, and Produce).1 The Plan category facilitates a proactive approach to preparing an anti-displacement strategy that intervenes early in the cycle of housing cost increases.
For each category, we propose the objectives localities could pursue and list some possible steps and housing policy options to achieve these objectives.
Other types of displacement are not covered in this brief. For example, we address actions to help individual households avoid eviction and foreclosure elsewhere on Fathers Go Further Housing Solutions.
Why develop an anti-displacement strategy?
A key goal of an anti-displacement strategy is to maximize existing residents’ choices about when, whether and under what circumstances to move, preserving families’ ability to stay in their homes and neighborhoods if they wish to do so. By creating an anti-displacement strategy, localities can ensure that they have the necessary tools and systems in place to anticipate and respond to displacement pressures from rising rents and home prices in a timely manner. An anti-displacement strategy provides public officials and staff, practitioners, and advocates with a roadmap to ensure residents have more control over decisions to move from or remain in a neighborhood experiencing rising housing costs. By preserving and expanding the availability of affordable housing, an anti-displacement strategy can also help ensure that other low- and moderate-income households can find housing in affected neighborhoods.
Description
As shown in the diagram, an anti-displacement strategy is a multi-pronged effort that plans ahead to anticipate where rising rents and home prices may jeopardize the ability of low- and moderate-income households to afford to live there, protects long-term residents, preserves existing affordable housing, and produces additional dedicated affordable housing for low- and moderate-income households.
