Diminishing Rent Assistance in Charleston Area

When considering the number of people who are living in homelessness, it is important to also consider the people living at the margins just above homelessness. In many communities, individuals and families are able to avoid homelessness through the contribution of government regulated rent-assistance. While rent subsidies and housing voucher programs do draw from our available tax revenues, the amount of money invested in housing can be the difference between living in a stable home or entering a homeless condition.

Photo courtesy of Brad Nettles, Post & Courier

From this perspective, we can see the subsidies as a buffering investment that allows households to maintain their current home, social network, sense of self, and employment. Without these subsidies, we would see an even greater need on our already overtaxed emergency shelter-care systems.

Rent Assistance Cutbacks - Post & Courier (Charleston)

Also interesting to me are the comments at the bottom of the above article. The majority of the commentary are cynical critiques of the situation, either blaming the individuals in poverty for their situation or begrudging the fact that some of the housing is located on Daniel Island. I am not familiar with the Daniel Island area but it would be interesting to see what the household income distribution of the area looked like.