Page 5 - THE GAP: The Affordable Housing Gap Analysis 2019

THE GAP IANTRODUCTION ordable, decent, and accessible housing is of critical importance to our well-being, providing a stable foundation for child and parental health, childhood cognitive development, educational achievement, and employment (Brennan, Reed, & Sturtevant, 2014; Desmond & Gershenson, 2016; Newman & Holupka, 2015; Sandel et al., 2016). Yet the supply of a ordable homes in America is woefully inadequate, especially for the nation’s lowest-income families and individuals. Each year, NLIHC examines the American Community Survey (ACS) to determine the availability of rental homes a ordable to extremely low-income households – those with incomes at or below the poverty line or 30% of the area median income (AMI), whichever is greater - and other income groups (Box 1). e annual report provides a picture for the nation, each state plus the District of Columbia (DC), and the largest metropolitan areas. is year’s key ndings include: • Extremely low-income renters in the U.S. face a shortage of seven million a ordable and available rental homes. Only 37 a ordable and available homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households. • Seventy-one percent (7.8 million) of the nation’s 11 million extremely low-income renter households are severely housing cost-burdened, spending more than half of their incomes on rent and utilities. ey account for 73% of all severely cost-burdened renters in the U.S. A SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE HOMES, 2019 • Extremely low-income renters are much more likely to be severely housing cost-burdened than other income groups. irty-two percent of very low-income, eight percent of low-income, and two percent of middle-income renters are severely cost-burdened.1 • Forty-eight percent of extremely low-income renter households are seniors or disabled, and another 44% are in the labor force or in school, or are single-adult caregivers. • Native American, black, and Hispanic renters are more likely than white renters to have extremely low incomes. Among renters, 38% of American Indian or Alaskan Native households, 35% of black households, 28% of Hispanic households, and 22% of white non-Hispanic households have extremely low incomes. • No state has an adequate supply of a ordable and available homes for extremely low-income renters. e current relative supply ranges from 19 a ordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in Nevada to 66 in Wyoming. • e shortage of a ordable homes ranges from 5,800 in Wyoming to one million in California. e private market provides too few homes a ordable to the lowest-income renters. What extremely low- income renters can a ord to pay for rent does not cover the development and operating costs of new housing, and it often is not su cient to provide an incentive for landlords to maintain older housing. On average, the most an extremely low-income family DEFINITIONS AREA MEDIAN INCOME (AMI): The median family income in the metropolitan or nonmetropolitan area EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME (ELI): Households with income at or below the Poverty Guideline or 30% of AMI, whichever is higher VERY LOW-INCOME (VLI): Households with income between ELI and 50% of AMI LOW-INCOME (LI): Households with income between 51% and 80% of AMI MIDDLE-INCOME (MI): Households with income between 81% and 100% of AMI ABOVE MEDIAN INCOME: Households with income above 100% of AMI COST BURDENED: Spending more than 30% of household income on housing costs SEVERELY COST BURDENED: Spending more than 50% of household income on housing costs 1 Weuserentersandrenterhouseholdsinterchangeablytorefertorenterhouseholdsthroughoutthisreport. NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION 1