Out of Reach
NLIHC released in June our annual Out of Reach report, which compares the wages people earn and the price of modest rental housing in every state, metropolitan area, and county in the U.S. The report shows that while most indicators suggest the economy is strong, affordable rental homes are out of reach for millions of low-wage workers, seniors, families, and other renters. The report’s “Housing Wage” is an estimate of the hourly wage full-time workers must earn to afford a rental home at fair market rent without spending more than 30% of their incomes. Nationally, the 2024 Housing Wage is $32.11 per hour for a modest two-bedroom rental home and $26.74 per hour for a modest one-bedroom rental home.
In no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage, or the applicable state or local minimum wage, afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent. Furthermore, of the nation’s 20 most common occupations, 14 pay median wages lower than the one-bedroom housing wage. These 14 occupations account for more than 64 million workers, or 42% of the workforce.
This year’s report focuses on the issue of homelessness. The number of people experiencing homelessness has been on the rise in recent years, with an estimated 653,000 people experiencing homelessness on a given night in 2023 – the highest number ever recorded by HUD during its annual Point in Time (PIT) count. In a misguided attempt to address the challenge, many communities have increased efforts to criminalize homelessness by ticketing, fining, and arresting people for having no place to call home. However, homelessness is a housing problem, and expanding housing assistance is the best way to reverse rising rates of homelessness. Criminalizing homelessness is not only counterproductive, failing to address the underlying causes of homelessness, but also needlessly cruel.
Despite rising wages, cooling inflation, and low unemployment rates, many renters continue to struggle with the cost of housing. The report highlights how addressing this challenge will require long-term federal investments in affordable housing. As demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic, federal policies and resources can play an important role in preventing evictions and homelessness and addressing housing instability among renters with the lowest incomes. Establishing an effective federal housing safety net will require sustained investments to expand both short- and long-term rental assistance, build new deeply affordable housing, preserve the existing stock of housing, and provide stronger renter protections.
Visit https://nlihc.org/oor to read the report and access data for your community.
National Renter Survey
Much of what is known about renters in the U.S. comes from national datasets like the American Housing Survey, Census Household Pulse Survey, and American Community Survey. While these resources provide considerable detail on topics like rental housing quality, rent costs, and renter demographics, they include only limited information on topics like landlord-tenant relationships, barriers to applying for housing assistance, rental junk fees, and challenges faced in obtaining accessible and inclusive housing. Having a reliable, nationwide source of numerical data on the common barriers renters face to remaining safely and stably housed in their communities of choice would be an invaluable resource for informing advocacy efforts and identifying effective policy interventions.
From 2024 to 2025, NLIHC will address this information gap by conducting a nationally representative survey of renters. The primary goal of this survey is to supplement existing data sources by gathering new, actionable data to inform our advocacy on federal policies that affect renters. Visit https://nlihc.org/national-renters-survey to follow the latest updates on the progress of the survey.
Natural Hazards and Federally Assisted Housing
NLIHC and the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC) released a joint report, The National Risk Index and Racial Equity for Renters, in June. The report assesses whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Risk Index (NRI) reflects known disparities in natural hazard risk for renters of color. The report shows that some parts of the NRI may not fully reflect the differences in natural hazard risks faced by renters, particularly for Black and Hispanic households. For this reason, the report urges caution in using the index to guide decision-making around mitigation and recovery planning resources targeted to renters. Specifically, the report argues that planners and policymakers should use alternative measures within the NRI when deciding how to prioritize these resources, or they should supplement the NRI with other metrics that better capture racial inequities. Read the full report at: https://shorturl.at/i209Z