Low-income West Virginians could lose access to 28% of affordable housing unless lawmakers step in

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At 93, Anna Lee Pettit lives alone in a first-floor apartment at Morgantown’s Unity House Apartments, where she can get her mail indoors and avoid hauling garbage outside in the winter.

She survives on Social Security benefits and said she wouldn’t have made it without affordable housing after her husband died. She now pays $435 a month for rent on top of her electric and phone bills.

Pettit said she was fortunate that subsidized housing was available for her.

“They need to build more of them here in Morgantown,” she said. “So they can help seniors and those with disabilities.”

Across the state, more than 60,000 West Virginians rely on federal rental assistance. Most of them are seniors, children and people with disabilities.

But many of them could lose the help, because a growing share of those properties is nearing the end of the federal restrictions that keep rents low.

Over the next 5 to 10 years, the state is projected to lose more than a quarter of its federally subsidized low-income rental units as incentives to keep rent affordable expire, according to a new statewide housing report.

Nearly 200 properties, 28% of the state’s total, are scheduled to reach the end of their federal affordability period between 2029 and 2034, according to data from the National Housing Preservation Database.

Whether that housing remains affordable will largely depend on state policy choices.

As federal affordability restrictions expire, many states have moved to protect low-income renters by creating their own state-level housing tax credits.

About 30 states have adopted state-level low-income housing tax credits or similar preservation programs, which supplement the federal credit. These state credits are often used to fund repairs, new construction, or to extend affordability agreements with property owners after federal requirements expire.

Neighboring states like Ohio and Virginia are among the states that have implemented their own housing tax programs, allowing them to be proactive.

Ohio’s low-income housing tax credit was created in 2023 and is modeled on the federal program. It allows property owners to claim state credits for 10 years, and can be combined with the federal credit. Virginia’s housing credit was created in 2021 and can be claimed for between 10 and 15 years.

However, West Virginia has not implemented a similar program, and lawmakers have instead prioritized tax incentives for higher-cost housing developments in recent years.

House Speaker Roger Hanshaw, R-Clay, and Senate President Randy Smith, R-Preston, did not respond to Mountain State Spotlight’s questions about the state’s role in preserving affordable housing costs as federal subsidies expire.

In the absence of state-level housing incentives, preservation efforts have largely fallen to the agency that administers federal programs.

The West Virginia Housing Development Fund, the state’s housing arm, disperses federal housing credits to approved properties. But as a state agency, its tools are largely limited to federal resources.

Nate Testman, the fund’s interim director, said the agency has ramped up efforts to preserve properties by working with owners and using tax-exempt bonds to help finance renovations.

“In our experience, many owners want to renew or extend affordability periods, and the WVHDF tries to make it as easy as possible for them to do so with available resources,” he said.

Still, Testman said those resources are limited, and federal tax credits are highly competitive. The agency often receives double or triple the number of applications than the number of credits available.

The housing preservation challenge is mostly driven by how federal housing tax credits were designed.

West Virginia needs more than 20,000 additional units for households earning about half the median income.

For many renters, especially seniors and low-income families, there are few alternatives when rents rise.

At the same time, a large share of the affordable housing that does exist is tied to federal subsidies that weren’t designed to be indefinite.

The largest of those subsidies is the Federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, which is given to landlords who operate low-income housing units. The credit provides tax incentives to developers in exchange for limiting rents for low-income tenants, but only for a set period of time.

Under the program, developers receive tax credits over 10 years, and agree to keep rents affordable for 15 years, with many properties committing to affordability terms for up to 30 years.

When those credits expire, property owners can keep units affordable or switch to market-rate rent prices. The median rent for an apartment including utilities is $850 per month in West Virginia.

For Pettit, the debate over tax credits and expiring restrictions is less about policy and more about stability.

Living on a fixed income, she said she doesn’t have room in her budget for rising rent. If her apartment were to lose its affordability protections, she’s not sure where she would go.

“I’m getting by,” she said. “I don’t know how people do it.”

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This story was originally published by Mountain State Spotlight and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.