Housing Affordability & Cost Burden

The spring 2017 issue of Shelterforce features a series of articles that examine the standard measure of housing affordability that a household should spend no more than 30% of its income on housing costs. Several articles in the publication explore the 30% standard’s strength and weaknesses, and…

A report from Zillow, How to Save on Rent: Don’t Move, finds that renters who renew their lease typically pay less rent than those who move. In 2015, renters who moved in the past year paid 47% more in rent than those who had stayed in their current apartment for at least five years. The difference…

Out of Reach 2017: The High Cost of Housing NLIHC released Out of Reach 2017 on June 8. The report’s Housing Wage is the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a modest apartment while spending no more than 30% of his or her income on rent and utilities. This year, the national two-…

A report by the Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement and the Labor Education Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, The Impact of a Minimum Wage Increase on Housing Affordability in Illinois, finds that a higher minimum wage would improve housing…