Affordable Housing

HOUSING affordability demands of low- and moderate-income workers in Broward County and its municipalities had not improved prior to the COVID-19 pandemic despite impressive post-recession job growth numbers and low unemployment. The dynamics driving housing affordability have been moving in the wrong direction--housing prices and rents increasing extraordinarily faster than wages, slow higher-wage job creation, tightening vacancy rates, and rapid appreciation that permanently removes more units each year from the local market. SHIFTING HOUSEHOLD DEMOGRAPHICS THE population of Broward County continues to increase, up 2.7%, an increase of 51,857 residents, since 2017. However, the projected population and employment estimates indicate Broward County's future housing demand will continue to be substantially weighted towards renter households in the "Extremely Low" to "Low" household income categories.