BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A new report shows U.S. home prices climbed by more than 18 percent in one month.
“A recent study that has been done in the past and the ones being finalized now shows the need of at least 20,000 affordable housing units within the parish,” said East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority (EBRPHA) Executive Director J. Daniels.
As inventory dips and demands for housing rise, this leaves people struggling to buy homes and pay rent. The East Baton Rouge Parish Housing Authority has a few projects up its sleeves for the new year.
“Within the markets, inflation is at a 39 year high. And so rents ultimately track inflation,” said Daniels.
Daniels said he hoped to fill in the gaps with the $30 million they received from the federal government.
“So we realized that we really had to accelerate our development activity to make sure we met the needs of our affordable housing demand here and within the capital region,” he said.
He aimed to provide not just a home, but a community where people can thrive.
“You have to make this a community of choice, which is more comprehensive, which includes the educational access, transportation access, recreational access, so it has to be it’s a more comprehensive and broader approach that can be to redevelop,” Daniels explained.
The plan also included creating affordable housing that aligns with market rates for multi-income mixing.
“Because now my families that may live there don’t have the stigma of what typical housing used to look like,” said Daniels.
He said a few of the projects should be completed in 2022 and believes that inflation will continue to rise in the next year.
