NLIHC was founded on the principle that data-driven advocacy works. By conducting ongoing, rigorous, and timely research, we make clear the need to ensure housing for America’s lowest-income people.

Every year, we release our signature research publications: Out of Reach and The Gap. Out of Reach reports on the mismatch between what workers can afford and the market rents they must pay in every community in the United States. The Gap documents the gap between the number of renter households and rental units that are affordable and available to them, as well as housing cost burdens, by income groupings in every state and the largest 50 metropolitan areas.

Our research team also produces Congressional District Profiles, which empower policy advocates with specialized data from their own communities. We also produce specialized analyses of current issues, like emergency rental assistance, housing recovery after disasters, and the affordability gap.

Memo to Members and Partners Articles

Study Finds Discrimination against Same-Sex Couples in Rental Housing Market

A study by David Schwegman published in Housing Policy Debate, “Rental Market Discrimination Against Same-Sex Couples: Evidence From a Pairwise-Matched Email Correspondence Test,” examines housing discrimination against same-sex couples. Same-sex male couples, especially non-white same-sex male…

Most U.S. Counties Have Same or Worse Poverty Rates than a Decade Ago

The U.S. Census Bureau released Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates: 2017 on December 3. These data provide annual estimates of income and poverty for all U.S. counties and school districts. The Estimates show that U.S. counties have vast disparities of poverty rates, and most have the same or…