What is Affordable housing?

When I finished high school I moved into a house with a bunch of friends. We all paid 150 bucks a month and split the utilities. I had my own room and shared a bathroom with 3 other guys. It wasn't great, but I could afford it.

After a year I left to go to college. A friend let me crash on the couch in his apartment until I found a place to live. I wasn't there long. I had tons of motivation to find my own place. It was very affordable, but it was a couch in a living room. Next...

It took me less then a month to find a family that was renting out a bedroom in their house.  It was very close to school and dinner was included in my rent if I wanted it. Sweet deal. A place to sleep and a couple good meals a week. What more could a college kid need. I was working part time and going to school full time. I didn't have much money, so this worked out perfect for me. It was affordable.

I got married while I was still in school and my wife and I couldn't very well live in the bedroom I had been living in. We found an old house that was converted into a duplex. We lived in the upstairs. It wasn't great, but we were both working part time and going to school, so it was what we could afford.

We could pay our rent and go to school with the money we made with our part time jobs. During the summer I had a great sales job and was able to make some extra money that we put away to buy a house.  I was able to go full time with my summer job when I graduated so we bought our first house. It was small, 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom, and old, but it was a house and we could afford to make the payments.

We loved our little house. We fixed it up and made it ours, but 6 years and 2 kids later it was time for a move. In July we found a new home that we wanted to buy. We found a nice couple that would rent our house and we moved into our new house. It stretched us a little, but we can afford it.

Since the day I've moved out of my parent's house I have had to pay rent or make a mortgage payment. I haven't always lived where I would like to, but I always lived where I could afford to live.

The problem I have with Affordable housing programs is that instead of someone finding a place to live that they can afford. They find the place they want to live and then the government subsidizes what they can't afford. This seems backwards to me. Why should one person be taxed so someone else can live in a nicer place? If you don't like where you live, shouldn't it be up to you to improve your situation?