West Virginia's growing Eastern Panhandle is becoming too expensive for its poorest residents

[Marthe48]

1. if only

If I had the money, I could convert my basement into a small apartment with its own entrance. It'd be nice to see a government program that offered grants or low interest loans to homeowners to convert their extra space into housing for someone. There could be conditions, such as a minimum of how long the homeowner had to commit to renting the space. I know so many people who are on their own, and stay in the house where they had spouses or families. Not every person would want to convert their home into a duplex, but even a small portion would add housing to the communities.

And if there were enough interest, maybe Habitat for Humanity could extend its efforts to existing home conversion. Not true home ownership, but a step away from homelessness.