The GAP: A Shortage of Affordable Homes

From National Low Income Housing Coalition, March, 2017 

…Each year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) measures the availability of rental housing affordable to extremely low income (ELI) households and other income groups (see Box 1). This year’s analysis is slightly different from previous years in that NLIHC adopted the federal government’s new statutory definition for ELI, which are households whose income is at or below either the poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income (AMI), whichever is higher.1 Based on 2015 American Community Survey (ACS) data, this report provides information on the affordable housing supply and housing cost burdens at the national, state, and metropolitan levels. This year’s analysis continues to show that ELI households face the largest shortage of affordable and available2 rental housing and have more severe housing cost burdens than any other group. 

Extremely Low Income (ELI): Households with income at or below the Poverty Guideline or 30% of area median income (AMI), whichever is higher….

KEY FINDINGS INCLUDE:

• 11.4 million ELI renter households accounted for 26% of all U.S. renter households and nearly 10% of all households.

• The U.S. has a shortage of 7.4 million affordable and available rental homes for ELI renter households, resulting in 35 affordable and available units for every 100 ELI renter households.

(Hawaii also has 35 affordable and available units for every 100 ELI renter households.)

• Seventy-one percent of ELI renter households are severely cost-burdened, spending more than half of their income on rent and utilities. These 8.1 million severely cost-burdened households account for 72.6% of all severely cost-burdened renter households in the U.S.

• Thirty-three percent of very low income (VLI) renter households; 8.2% of low income (LI) renter households, and 2.4% of middle income (MI) renter households are severely cost-burdened (see Box 1).

• ELI renter households face a shortage of affordable and available rental homes in every state. The shortage ranges from just 15 affordable and available homes for every 100 ELI renter households in Nevada to 61 in Alabama.

• The housing shortage for ELI renters ranges from 8,700 rental homes in Wyoming to 1.1 million in California.…

EVERY STATE HAS A HOUSING SHORTAGE FOR EXTREMELY LOW INCOME RENTERS

Every state and the District of Columbia has a shortage of affordable and available rental homes for ELI households (Figure 5 and Appendix A). The shortage ranges from 8,731 in Wyoming to 1,110,803 in California. The states where ELI renters face the greatest challenge in finding affordable and available homes are Nevada, with only 15 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 ELI renter households, California (21 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), Arizona (26 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), Oregon (26 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), Colorado (27 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), and Florida (27 homes for every 100 ELI renter households). The states with the greatest supply of affordable and available rental homes for ELI renters still have a significant shortage. They are Alabama (61 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), West Virginia (59 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), Kentucky (57 homes for every 100 ELI renter households), Mississippi (51 homes for every 100 ELI renters households), and South Dakota (51 homes for every 100 ELI renter households).

The majority of ELI renter households are severely cost-burdened in every state and the District of Columbia. The states with the greatest percentage of ELI renter households with a severe cost burden are Nevada (83%), Florida (79%), California (77%), Oregon (76%), Hawaii (75%), Colorado (75%), and Virginia (75%). The shortages of affordable and available rental homes disappear as households move up the income ladder. Every state has a shortage of affordable and available rental homes at the VLI income threshold of 50% of AMI, 22 states have a shortage of housing at 80% of AMI, and 9 have a shortage at median income….

Read … The GAP: A Shortage of Affordable Homes

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