With U.S. affordable housing in crisis, Trump admin wants to cut aid

March 13, 2018                               By: Patrick Sisson

The Gap, a new report by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, illustrates depth of affordable housing crisis

For many low-income Americans, a safe and affordable home is becoming increasingly hard to find. According to The Gap, a new report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released earlier today, at a time when more and more Americans are burdened with above-average housing costs, the Trump administration seeks to cut federal programs that provide housing assistance and support and strengthen public housing infrastructure.

According to author Andrew Aurand, the NLIHC’s vice president for research, the problem has gotten worse over the last decade. The shortage of affordable rental units has increased from 5.8 to 7.2 million, and a larger percentage of the growing rental population can be considered extremely low-income renters.

Nationwide, 8 million Americans pay more than half their income on rent each month. To place it in perspective, of every 100 rental units nationwide, only 35 are available or affordable to extremely low-income renters (defined as households with incomes at or below the Poverty Guideline or 30% of area median income, whichever is higher). That number gets lower in many metros areas in the south and west.......................Read More