HIGHLIGHTS

• 25% of all St. Louis renter households are experiencing severe housing problems.

• There are nearly 88,000 people in the St. Louis region with disabilities that impact their ability to walk.

• There are only 2,400 subsidized affordable housing units designed for people with disabilities of any kind. We estimate that our region has accessible units to meet 2-3% of the affordable housing need for people with ambulatory disabilities.

• In the St. Louis region, Black residents are nearly three times as likely to have a disability than the general population. This means the lack of accessible housing disproportionately negatively impacts them.

Overview

Affordable housing preservation is achieved when properties are maintained and units are both functional and accessible. Housing quality refers to both the physical condition of the housing unit and the quality of the physical and social environment where the home is located. Housing quality is one of the most important measures of success to the members of the Affordable Housing Trust Fund Coalition, however, it is one of the most difficult to measure given a lack of timely and meaningful data collection at the federal level or suitable data reporting at the local level. In this section, we will discuss our ability to measure housing quality in terms of:

1. Housing Conditions

2. Accessibility

3. Social Environment

Housing Conditions

For the majority of affordable housing, we do not have access to relevant data to measure housing conditions. Housing conditions Coalition members highlighted as some of the most important, but are not currently measurable include regular maintenance of common areas in multi-unit buildings, construction free of hazardous materials such as lead paint or asbestos, and security in the forms of working locks on doors and windows. 

Public housing

Local housing authorities record resident complaints about pests and police reports of violent crime in public housing. The St. Louis Housing Authority shares this data in their Monthly Activity Report, but the equivalent is not available for the Housing Authority of Saint Louis County at this time.

Housing Choice Vouchers

Local housing authorities conduct unit inspections prior to contracting with potential providers for the voucher program and when tenants submit complaints. This practice creates a baseline level of quality of housing for voucher holders.

LIHTC

There is no requirement for public data reporting on housing conditions for LIHTC properties.

Non-subsidized

It is difficult for us to estimate levels of housing quality in the private housing market using existing data sources. We reviewed data from HUD’s Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy, the Census Bureau’s American Housing Survey, and the City of St. Louis’ dataset on code violations. 

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) commissions custom tabulations of American Community Survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau to inform affordable housing strategy at the local level. This data is referred to as Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data and one of the fields available is “housing problems.” A household will be recorded as having housing problems if the housing unit lacks complete kitchen facilities or plumbing facilities, if the household is overcrowded, and/or if the household is cost-burdened. A household is considered to have severe housing problems if overcrowding exceeds 1.5 persons per room or if the cost burden exceeds 50% of income.

However, with housing cost burden is lumped in with housing quality it is difficult to use this data to discuss housing quality alone. For reference, 45,805 renters experience severe levels of cost burden (rent > 50% of income). That means that up to 90% of renters described as having severe housing problems may be experiencing high levels of housing costs but not have any problems with the quality of their housing unit.   

The American Housing Survey (AHS), a project of the U.S. Census Bureau, is a longitudinal survey on housing that is conducted every two years. It collects data on housing quality including (1) physical problems in plumbing, heating, electrical, and upkeep, (2) interior conditions such as pests or interior damage to floors, walls, and ceilings, (3) exterior conditions such as sagging roof, broken windows, or missing bricks, and (4) water leakage issues. However, this data is only available for the St. Louis Metropolitan Statistical Area (which includes parts of Illinois) for 2011. 

The most common housing problems reporting rate for St. Louis MO-IL housing stock are:

1. Water leakage from outside structure - 151 per 1,000 housing units

2. Signs of mice in past 12 months - 115 per 1,000 housing units

3. Water leakage from inside structure - 78 per 1,000 housing units

4. Uncomfortably cold for 24 hours or more - 69 per 1,000 housing units

5. Signs of cockroaches - 66 per 1,000 housing units

6. Foundation crumbling - 61 per 1,000 housing units
   

Code Violations

Housing with code violations is an indication that housing units are not being well-maintained. While the City’s Building Division publishes data on code violations, they do not specify whether properties are residential homes occupied by tenants. The County does not aggregate data on municipal code violations.

Environmental Conditions

The EPA has created an Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool that allows researchers to visualize the geographical relationship between public or subsidized housing and environmental hazards such as Superfund sites, brownfields, hazardous waste, toxic discharges, and air pollution. The maps below show the proximity of brownfields, air pollution, and hazardous waste to public and subsidized housing in the St. Louis region, including Wellston (top-left), Clinton-Peabody (top-right), and Columbus Square, Carr Square, Jeff-Vander-Lou, and Vandeventer (bottom). 

Physical Accessibility

An accessible housing unit is housing that is designed to be usable by all people, regardless of physical abilities. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination in areas of public life, including government-owned and operated housing. There are nearly 88,000 people in the St. Louis region with disabilities that impact their ability to walk. Black residents are nearly three times as likely to have a disability than the general population.

The most basic requirement for accessibility is entryways without steps. Other accessibility features include lower kitchen counters and sinks, wide doorways, and zero-entry/curbless showers. We estimate that the number of accessible, subsidized units meet only 2-3% of affordable housing needs for people with ambulatory disabilities or difficulties with independent living. The lack of accessible housing disproportionately negatively impacts black residents.

Section 811 and 202

HUD subsidizes the development of rental housing that provides supportive services to very low- and extremely low-income people with disabilities through its Section 811 program and to very low-income elderly through its Section 202 program. 

From 1990 to 2011, Section 811 provided interest-free capital advances to support the construction of accessible housing. These funds did not have to be repaid if affordable housing was provided for a period of 40 years. Since then, Section 811 is only available to provide project rental assistance (subsidized rent) for new or existing affordable housing developments funded by LIHTC, HOME, or other tax credits. Residents must have incomes below 30% AMI and at least one adult in the household must have a disability. Section 202 provides both capital advances and project rental assistance. 

There are 246 Section 811 and 1,821 Section 202 occupied units in St. Louis City and County.

Public housing

As of June 2021, the City of St. Louis Housing Authority reports that 846 households (or 34% of households served through public housing) have at least one person with a disability. The City of St. Louis Housing Authority currently has a total of 325 accessible units across their public housing portfolio. Saint Louis County reports 51 accessible units across its five housing authorities. Of these, 37 are wheelchair accessible and 14 are accessible for those with sight/hearing disabilities. 

Non-subsidized

Private residential housing is not subject to ADA accessibility requirements. We do not have estimates on the number of accessible housing units in the private market.

Data Recommendations  

To improve our ability to measure affordable housing quality, we recommend...

1. Housing Authorities estimate total maintenance needs for public housing portfolios.

2. Housing Authorities report annual data on tenant complaints of housing conditions and crime reports.

3. City of St. Louis disaggregates data on code violations by tenant-occupied residential properties.

4. Saint Louis County aggregates data on residential code violations from municipalities. 

5. City and County inspect private housing stock for accessibility requirements such as no-step entries. 

6. Housing Authorities survey housing voucher holders on need and access to accessible units.

7. City and County use and assist in maintaining Vacancy Collaborative database tracking block captains, neighborhood associations, and community development corporations.

8. HUD publishes data on severe housing problems disaggregated by race.