National Housing Statistics

"Affordability is the single greatest housing challenge facing the nation."
"There is simply not enough affordable housing."
— 2002 report of the Millennial Housing Commission, mandated by Congress to investigate the nation's housing challenges.

Affordability
Housing is considered "affordable" if it costs 30% or less of household income.

As the cost of housing rises more rapidly than wages, more and more families are left without an affordable place to live. Since 2000, the proportion of households living in unaffordable or severely unaffordable housing has increased; even moderate-income families increasingly cannot find affordable housing.

› One out of every three families in the United States lives in unaffordable housing: one-third of American households spend more than 30% of its income
on housing.

› Across the country, 13.4 million renter households and 15.4 million owner households face moderate or severe housing affordability problems.

› More than one in every eight American households lives in severely unaffordable housing, spending 50% or more of its income on housing. In addition, 2.5 million households live in housing that, while affordable, is overcrowded or severely inadequate.

› The national "housing wage" — the hourly wage required for a full-time worker to be able to afford fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment — is $15.78. The housing wage, calculated annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, has increased since 2004, as the cost of utilities and rent rose faster than wages.

› Only 14% of renter households nationwide live in a metropolitan area where a full-time worker earning the mean renter wage can afford market rent for a two-bedroom apartment.

Low-Income Families
The housing affordability crisis is most severe for low-income families.

› There is not a single county or metropolitan area in the United States where a family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage can afford the local fair-market rent for even a one-bedroom apartment. The national "housing wage" of $15.78 per hour is more than three times the federal minimum wage of $5.15.

› When low-income families devote a large percentage of their income to paying rent, their ability to pay for basic food and health care expenses is jeopardized. The average low-income household spending more than 50% of its income on housing spent only $175 per month on food and $35 on health care in 2004, but the average low-income household spending less than 30% of its income on housing spent an average of $248 on food and $109 on health care.

› There is a severe shortage of housing for extremely-low-income renters (under 30 percent of area median income). More than 60 percent of extremely-low-income renters spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent.

› The shortage of housing units available to low-income renters is exacerbated because many of these units are occupied by renters with higher incomes or are not large enough or in good condition. In 2003, there were 78 affordable housing units in existence for every 100 extremely-low-income households, but only 44 of these units were available for families to rent.

Housing Assistance Programs
One of the most important ways low-income families can afford housing is through federal subsidies, including public housing and Housing Choice Vouchers (formerly called Section 8).

› Only one-third of households that are eligible for rental assistance actually receive it. In addition, many of these units are in poor physical condition, with insufficient funds available to pay for repairs.

› Without these housing assistance programs, Since 1978, the percentage of renter households nationwide who do not receive assistance and live in adequate, affordable housing has fallen steadily, from 50.2% to 41.5%.

Homeownership
› The nationwide homeownership rate in the United States is 69 percent.

› Both owners and renters face housing affordability problems. Nationally, 32.5 percent of homeowners with mortgages spend more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs.

› In recent years, the booming housing market has pushed house prices up rapidly, keeping homeownership beyond the reach of many low and moderate-income families. Rising property taxes and utility costs also place an increasing cost burden on homeowners, even though mortgage payments are more stable than rent.

› Homeownership for low-income families is a particular challenge. While 90 percent of households in the top income quintile own their homes, only 50 percent in the lowest income quintile do. And low-income families who do buy homes may find themselves burdened by debt; mortgages extended to low-income families are often at less favorable rates, and mortgage and maintenance costs can leave families unable to save and invest their income in areas beyond their home.

› Although homeownership rates for minorities have increased, there is still a pronounced gap between white and minority homeownership rates. Slightly less than 50 percent of black and Hispanic-headed households own homes, compared to 75 percent of white households.

Rent Burden
› 31 percent of renter households have at least a moderate rent burden, spending more than 30% of their income on gross rent (rent and utilities). Approximately 13 percent spend more than 50 percent of their income on gross rent.

› The replacement of old rental housing units with new ones has driven up rents nationwide. Nearly all newly constructed apartments rent for more than $800 per month, making them unaffordable for families earning less than $32,000 per year.

"Worst-Case" Housing Needs
› In 2003, 5.18 million renter households, comprising 11.4 million people, were categorized as having "worst-case" housing needs by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. This number has remained relatively constant over the last 10 years. Households with "worst-case needs" are those with incomes under 50 percent of area median income who live in rental housing, do not receive direct federal housing assistance, and pay more than half of their income in rent and/or live in severely substandard housing.

› Severe rent burden alone accounts for 91.4 percent of worst-case housing needs. Problems of physical housing inadequacy have declined over the years, but afford-ability problems have worsened; the calculations of worst-case housing needs also do not include measures of overcrowding.

› Households with worst-case housing needs represent 46% of very-low-income renters and 4.9 percent of all U.S. households.

› 36 percent of households with worst-case housing needs are families with children. Worst-case housing needs are also disproportionately prevalent among
the elderly and disabled.