Affordable Housing Statistics

THE UNITED STATES' HOUSING NEED IS GREAT

Nearly 30 million U.S. households face one or more of the following housing problems.

• Cost burdens: paying an excessively large percentage of income on housing costs. About 14 million people pay more than 30 percent of their monthly income for rent and utilities, and more than 6.7 million households pay more than 50 percent of their income for rent.

• Overcrowding: the number of people in the house is greater than the total number of rooms in the house. About 2.5 million people live in an overcrowded situation.

• Physical inadequacy: severe physical deficiencies, such as having no hot water, no electricity, no toilet, or neither a bathtub nor a shower.

• One poor family in seven lives in housing which is severely physically inadequate.1

ALMOST 11 MILLION PEOPLE FACE WORST-CASE NEEDS

In 1999, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) released a report titled "A Report on Worst-Case Housing Needs." According to the report, 4.9 million households containing some 10.9 million individuals face "worst-case housing needs." These families:

• are renters receiving no government assistance;

• make less than 50 percent of the area median income;

• pay more than 50 percent of their income for rent and utilities; and/or

• live in housing with severe physical deficiencies such as having no hot water, no electricity, no toilet or neither a bathtub nor shower.

• Of the 10.9 million individuals living in worst-case housing situations:

• 3.6 million are children

• 1.4 million are elderly

• 1.3 million are disabled adults.2

GOVERNMENT AID IS NOT HELPING MOST OF THOSE IN NEED

Of the 30 million households with housing problems, 14.5 million qualify for government aid, yet only 4.1 million are actually receiving any In fact, most of the U.S. government's housing subsidies do not benefit the poor. For example, in 1995, homeowners earning more than $100,000 per year received a total of $28.9 billion in federal income tax deductions on mortgage interest payments. By comparison, the entire 1999 budget of HUD was only $25 billion.3

AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS GETTING HARDER TO FIND

Between 1997 and 1999 there was a 9 percent drop in the number of rental units available to very low income renters. That means 1.1 million fewer rental units were available for renters below 50 percent of the local area median.

More than two million housing units have "severe physical problems." This includes 1.4 million that have severe plumbing problems. About 1.6 million have one or more rooms without electrical outlets.4

To afford the median fair-market price of a two-bedroom rental unit in the United States, a worker would have to earn a wage of $12.47 per hour, 233 percent of the current federal minimum wage of $5.35 per hour. 5

In 1999, it cost an average of $580 per month to rent a house. For 14.8 million U.S. households that make $10,000 or less per year, a year's rent is about 70 percent of their annual income.6

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