West Virginia faces a ticking clock on federally subsidized affordable housing, with a large share of units approaching the end of the federal affordability rules that keep rents low. A statewide housing report projected that nearly 200 properties—about 28% of the state’s total—are scheduled to reach the end of their federal affordability period between 2029 and 2034, based on data from the National Housing Preservation Database. The report said whether those units remain affordable will largely depend on state policy choices.
For Anna Lee Pettit, 93, the stakes are personal. Pettit lives alone in a first-floor apartment at Morgantown’s Unity House Apartments, where she can receive mail indoors and avoid taking out garbage outside during the winter. She survives on Social Security benefits and said she would not have made it without affordable housing after her husband died, paying $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, and she urged more affordable units in Morgantown for seniors and people with disabilities. “They need to build more of them here in Morgantown,” she said. “So they can help seniors and those with disabilities.”
Across West Virginia, the report said more than 60,000 people rely on federal rental assistance. Many of those recipients are seniors, children and people with disabilities, and the report warned that a growing share of the properties they depend on could lose their rent protections as federal affordability restrictions expire.
The expiration timeline in the report points to a broader challenge for state officials who have not, so far, stepped in with a comparable preservation strategy to that used by some neighboring states. The report said roughly 30 states have adopted state-level low-income housing tax credits or similar preservation programs that supplement federal credits, often to fund repairs, new construction or to extend affordability agreements after federal requirements end.
It cited Ohio and Virginia as examples of states that have implemented their own tax programs, with tax credits that property owners can claim for set periods. The report said West Virginia has not implemented a similar program and instead has prioritized tax incentives for higher-cost housing developments in recent years. House Speaker Roger Hanshaw and Senate President Randy Smith did not respond to questions about the state’s role in preserving affordable housing costs as federal subsidies expire.
In the absence of state-level tax incentives, the report said preservation efforts have largely fallen to the agency that administers federal housing programs in West Virginia—the West Virginia Housing Development Fund. Its interim director, Nate Testman, said the fund is working with owners and using tax-exempt bonds to help finance renovations as part of efforts to preserve properties.
Testman said that in the agency’s experience, many owners want to renew or extend affordability periods and that the WVHDF tries to make that process easier with the resources it has available. “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. He also said the fund’s resources are limited and that federal tax credits are highly competitive, with the agency often receiving double or triple the number of applications than credits available.
The report said the housing preservation challenge is driven largely by how federal housing tax credits were designed: they provide tax incentives to developers in exchange for limiting rents for low-income tenants for a set period of time. Under the program described in the report, 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, and the report said 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 comes down to stability rather than policy theory. Living on a fixed income, she said she does not have room in her budget for rising rent, and she said she is not sure where she would go if her apartment loses affordability protections. “I’m getting by,” she said. “I don’t know how people do it.”