17-1 Research Updates

By Sarah Abdelhadi and Dan Emmanuel, NLIHC 

The Gap 2026 

NLIHC published The Gap 2026 (https://nlihc.org/gap) on March 5, 2026. The 2026 edition of the report finds that the lowest-income renters in the US, who account for nearly a quarter of all renter households, face a shortage of 7.2 million affordable and available rental homes. Only 35 affordable and available homes exist for every 100 renter households with extremely low incomes across the nation. This shortage impacts every state and the District of Columbia, resulting in widespread housing cost burdens for renters with the lowest incomes. Seventy-four percent, or nearly three out of every four, extremely low-income renter households are severely housing cost-burdened, spending more than half their limited incomes on housing.  

The report examines how housing challenges for the lowest-income renters are systemic and rooted in the inherent limitations of the private market. The report argues that these limitations must be addressed with subsidies and that greater investments are specifically needed in deeply targeted federal housing programs. 

Find data for the US, states, and metropolitan areas at https://nlihc.org/gap.  

The Gap: Assessing the Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in Puerto Rico 

On November 20, 2025, NLIHC published The Gap: Assessing the Affordability and Availability of Rental Housing in Puerto Rico (https://tr.ee/reRHn3). Using 2023 Puerto Rican Community Survey (PRCS) data, this report extends the analysis from NLIHC’s annual Gap reports to Puerto Rico for the first time. The report finds that Puerto Rico has a shortage of 54,915 homes affordable and available for renters with extremely low incomes. Put differently, only 66 homes are affordable and available for every 100 renter households with extremely low incomes on the island. This shortage of affordable and available rental homes results in widespread cost burdens for the island’s lowest-income renters. The report also explores how these housing issues are exacerbated by the unique challenges Puerto Rico faces with its limited political autonomy as a territory, continuing economic crises, and frequent disasters. The report ultimately calls for deep federal investments in rental assistance, affordable housing preservation, and key reforms to disaster recovery programs. 

Out of Reach 2026 

NLIHC research staff are currently working on the 2026 edition of the Out of Reach report (https://nlihc.org/oor). This annual report centers on the Housing Wage, the hourly wage full-time workers must earn to afford a modest rental home without spending more than 30% of their income. In 2025, the national Housing Wage was $33.63 per hour for a modest two-bedroom rental home and $28.17 for a modest one-bedroom rental home. Out of Reach 2026 will be released in summer 2026.   

National Renter Survey  

Over the last two years, NLIHC’s Research Team created and carried out our first-ever National Renter Survey—a nationally representative survey about renters’ housing-related experiences and opinions. This valuable resource provides additional support to the powerful stories that tenant advocates share about their lived experiences and can be used alongside existing national data on housing and renters from sources like the US Census Bureau. 

The Research Team received the final survey data earlier this year and is currently preparing a report on our findings, which will be released to the public in summer 2026. With help from our NLIHC colleagues, we are also considering other ways to share our findings to make it easier for tenants to access and make use of them for their advocacy, as well as to provide feedback on the survey itself. 

Visit https://nlihc.org/national-renter-survey for more information about the national renter survey. You can also contact the Research Team with questions or ideas at [email protected].