Working people are struggling with soaring rent. Connecticut needs to help.
Rental assistance programs need full funding
Stable, affordable housing is essential for communities. But right now, many people are struggling with increasing costs of rent, utilities, and groceries. In Connecticut, the Rental Assistance Program (RAP) serves as a crucial support system for people struggling to afford rent. But as housing costs continue to rise, RAP’s funding has not kept pace with the growing need.
RAP is designed to help bridge the gap between what someone makes and how much their rent costs. The program provides subsidies so households spend less of their paycheck on rent and have more money to afford other essentials.
Rent assistance enables people to stay in their homes when they are struggling to make ends meet. That stable housing enables families to keep their jobs, children to stay in their schools, and communities to stay together. With rent assistance, people also don’t have to choose between paying rent and buying groceries or seeing a doctor. Without rent assistance, people can face housing instability, which increases the risk of poor health, hurts children’s development, and makes economic inequality worse.
But because the state has underfunded rental assistance, waitlists for the program are long, and not every eligible person who applies is able to get help. The last time the Connecticut Department of Housing opened up the waitlist for RAP and Section 8 vouchers, 48,000 people applied. Of those, 5,000 were chosen to be added to the RAP waitlist, and 7,000 for Section 8. The state hasn’t set aside enough money to help everyone afford housing who needs it.
Connecticut must increase RAP funding to match rising costs and expand it to help more working people afford the rising cost of rent. Rent has gone up by at least 26% since 2021 for apartments of every size. Wages haven’t gotten close to keeping up with those costs, and neither has funding for rental assistance.
Gov. Ned Lamont’s proposed budget includes funding to keep RAP. But the Governor’s budget doesn’t include enough money to keep up with the cost of living. The state needs to invest at least $20 million into RAP. Of that $20 million, $11.5 million is needed to maintain the current program so that renters receiving help don’t lose it, and the other $8.5 million would expand it to 650 more families. The Governor’s proposed budget would push off expansion until the 2027 fiscal year. Families can’t afford to wait that long. Without the additional $11.5 million, the existing program is at risk of shrinking – at a time when need is high.
Rent is getting more expensive, and wages haven’t kept up. A single person would need to make at least $34.54 an hour – about $69,000 a year before taxes – to afford the average cost of a two-bedroom apartment in Connecticut without spending more than 30% of their pay on rent. More than half of people in Connecticut make less than $54,000 a year, meaning most couldn’t afford that cost. Spending more than 50% of a paycheck on rent puts you at risk of being evicted. Investing in rental assistance programs will keep more people in the homes and communities they love.
Investing in rental assistance now will also save the state money in the long run. When tenants spend more of their paycheck on rent, they’re more likely to be evicted. Placing a family in an emergency shelter costs the government $4,800 a month, compared to $1,160 spent on a housing voucher. It’s in the state’s best interest to invest in RAP now instead of having to spend thousands more to prevent families from losing their homes.
Additionally, each dollar spent on rental assistance helps the entire community. Tenants who aren’t overwhelmed with the price of rent can spend more on other things like food and child care, boosting the economy and lifting up small businesses. One study found that providing struggling households with rental assistance would be a $500 million investment in Connecticut’s economy.
Rent is expensive, and families are struggling. Housing is a huge stressor for thousands of working people in our state, and Connecticut can and should do more to make sure every hard-working person has a place to call home. This year, the state needs to invest at least $11.5 million into RAP, just to keep up with the rising costs that are hitting people hard and prevent households from being forced out of their homes. But it needs to go further than that to expand the right to a place to live to more households.
Safe, affordable housing is crucial for strong, resilient communities. By committing to a strong rental assistance program, Connecticut can take a significant step toward making sure hard-working families have stable housing.
