National Housing Law Project Housing Law Bulletin

A study released by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities on June 15, 1998, of housing conditions in 45 metropolitan areas documents record growth in the number of low-income renter households and the shortage of affordable units based on 1995 census data. Among the findings are that three in five poor renters paid more than half of their incomes for rent and utilities, and that the poorest renter families paid almost two-thirds of their income for rent. In the four-year period between 1991 and 1995, there was an increase of almost a million low-income households, while the actual number of affordable units fell by 100,000. The study also found that, perhaps contrary to popular perception, many poor families are households in which one or more members work. More than three-fourths of these working families had rent burdens in excess of 30 percent of their income.

The study, authored by Jennifer Daskal, disclosed a huge disparity in the number of low-rent units available and the households in need. In 1995, the gap between need and the availability of housing was a startling 4.4 million units. The study observes that federal housing policy has failed to support increasing housing assistance to more low-income families.

Not surprisingly, the study finds that, while higher income renters may also face affordability issues, their problems are much less severe. For example, more than half of poor renters paid at least half of their income for rent in 1995, whereas only 20 percent of those with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty level faced such a rent burden.

The study concluded that housing quality improved somewhat for poor renters during the period covered by the study. Nevertheless, the number of poor renters living in overcrowded conditions remained constant or increased.

The study points to the proposed FY 1999 Welfare-to-Work vouchers, vouchers for homeless persons, elimination of the three-month delay in the issuance of tenant-based subsidies and expansion of the low-income housing tax credit as ways to provide some expansion in the supply of affordable housing, and also highlights small-scale state and local efforts to expand the supply of affordable housing. The study points out the irony of other policies — such as the pending legislative proposals to weaken targeting to the poorest households — in the face of growing need.

In Search of Shelter: The Growing Shortage of Affordable Rental Housing is available for $10 plus shipping from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Tel. (202) 408-1080.