NLIHC was founded on the principle that data-driven advocacy works, and research continues to be a core area of our operations. Every year, NLIHC’s Research team releases two signature publications, The Gap and Out of Reach, in addition to a range of other reports and briefs. Now, the Research team has undertaken a new initiative: our first National Renters’ Survey.
In 2024 and 2025, NLIHC will be partnering with ICF to conduct a nationally representative survey designed to further our understanding of renters’ experiences, with a particular focus on renters with the lowest incomes. 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. These resources provide considerable information about rental housing quality, rent costs, and renter demographics but only limited information about other issues and challenges faced by renters. The National Renters’ Survey will supplement these sources by capturing new data about landlord-tenant relationships, access to housing assistance, rental junk fees, and barriers to finding affordable and accessible housing. Learn more about the National Renters’ Survey.
NLIHC’s Research Team also plays an important role in research related to the preservation of affordable rental housing. NLIHC co-manages the National Housing Preservation Database (NHPD), a national resource that allows users to identify federal subsidies associated with nearly any federally assisted property, the potential expiration of affordability restrictions, and property characteristics – data that are critical for prioritizing preservation efforts. Users can consult the database to identify specific properties in need of preservation or evaluate preservation challenges across an entire portfolio. Additionally, NLIHC publishes Picture of Preservation, which documents and discusses the nation’s preservation needs. In recent years, NLIHC has also published research on emerging challenges in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.
Our Research Team is also dedicated to understanding the threats posed by natural hazards to renters with the lowest incomes and how they and their communities recover after disasters. NLIHC’s disaster-related research largely focuses on quantifying the risks natural hazards pose to low-cost and subsidized rental housing and long-term recovery outcomes following disasters. NLIHC’s recent report, The National Risk Index and Racial Equity for Renters, finds that FEMA’s National Risk Index, a tool for determining hazard risks and allocating public funds for mitigation, may insufficiently capture risks for people of color. The report cautions against the use of the NRI risk scores, on their own, for prioritization of mitigation and recovery resources.
For more information on NLIHC’s research, visit our Research page or reach out to [email protected].