Broward County Affordable Housing Needs Assessment 2022

The 2022 Broward County Affordable Housing Needs Assessment provides a current market perspective on the key demand and supply factors affecting the production and availability of affordable housing in Broward County. Since 2020, unprecedented changes have occurred in the housing market that have impacted both owner and rental housing supply and demand and overall affordability. The contributing market factors and conditions include rampant investor buying, increasing renter housing demand, low rental vacancy rates, skyrocketing rent asking prices, a lack of affordable housing production, and depressed household incomes. Rapidly escalating asking rent prices fueled by investor buying and a rental housing shortage are significantly impacting Broward County’s working families and households. The vast majority of Broward County workers earn wages in low-wage service sector occupations within the leading industries of health services, retail trade, and leisure and hospitality. The Affordable Housing Needs Assessment provides a clear understanding of the scope and scale of Broward County’s affordable housing issues, which can provide a data-driven platform for policy direction. Developing policies to alleviate Broward County’s critical affordable housing needs will require a full understanding of the dynamics of the housing market and the economic contexts underpinning the demand for affordable housing. This understanding and perspective was first accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic and now by unprecedented housing market dynamics that have excluded local buyers and renters while creating financial distress for the majority of renter households. The Affordable Housing Needs Assessment measures the level of need and distress in the housing market and an understanding of how critical affordable housing is to the economic well-being and quality of life of Broward County’s residents.