In 1971, then US Senator Fritz Hollings said, “Poverty is a wheel with several spokes. On this wheel you've got the spoke of health, the spoke of housing, job training, job opportunity and rehabilitation.”
At that time, hunger was the focus. Today another challenge dominates the state (and nation)—a growing, pressing need for available and affordable housing. And a new source of poverty has been identified—“Housing Poverty”—as more and more households are forced to dedicate a larger percentage of their incomes to the cost of housing, often forgoing other essential needs.
At the same time, South Carolina now has the highest eviction rate in the nation.
SC Housing has finalized the first comprehensive Housing Needs Assessment for the state of South Carolina in nearly 22 years and its findings are alarming. We hope that action in legislation and in housing policy will follow from these findings.
