"Eighty-seven percent of the lowest-income renter households are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing, and 74% face severe cost burdens, spending more than 50% of their income on housing costs."
NLIHC released today its annual report, The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. The report finds that the lowest-income renters in the U.S. face a shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes. Just 35 affordable and available homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. This shortage of affordable and available housing leaves the lowest-income renters saddled with the highest rates of housing cost burdens among any income group. Eighty-seven percent of the lowest-income renter households are cost-burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing, and 74% face severe cost burdens, spending more than 50% of their income on housing costs.
No state or major metropolitan area has an adequate supply of affordable and available homes for extremely low-income renters. Among states, the supply ranges from 16 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Nevada to 73 in South Dakota. In 13 of the country's 50 largest metropolitan areas, the shortage of rental homes affordable and available to the lowest-income renters exceeds 100,000 homes. While affordability challenges for renters much further up the income ladder do emerge in select high-cost housing areas, extremely low-income renters face the most acute affordability challenges-and they face them throughout the country.
How can Architects help and make homes more affordable or with a better return in value for policy makers, developers, and communities? Download the full Gap report and interactive maps are available at: https://nlihc.org/gap
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Ismar Enriquez AIA
Practice
Pasadena CA
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