The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has released a report finding that the number of very poor unsubsidized families struggling to pay their monthly rent and who may also be living in substandard housing increased between 2013 and 2015.
According to the report, “Worst Case Housing Needs,” in 2015, 8.3 million very low-income unassisted families paid more than half their monthly income for rent, lived in severely substandard housing, or both.
Worst Case Housing Needs are defined as renters with very low incomes (below half the median in their area) who do not receive government housing assistance and who either paid more than half their monthly incomes for rent, lived in severely substandard conditions, or both.
“HUD’s estimate is part of a long-term series of reports measuring the scale of critical housing problems facing very low-income un-assisted renters,” HUD stated in a news release. “Based on data from the 2015 American Housing Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of these ‘Worst Case Housing Needs’ increased from 2013 yet remain lower than the nearly 8.5 million households reported in 2011.”
The report made the following findings:
HUD Secretary Ben Carson called for taking a “more holistic look” at how government at every level can work with the private market to ease the pressure felt by un-assisted renters.
“Today’s affordable rental housing crisis requires that we take a more business-like approach on how the public sector can reduce the regulatory barriers so the private markets can produce more housing for more families,” Carson said.
HUD stated in a news release that the Trump administrative is seeking to “unwind the federal government’s role in the private mortgage market and ease the stress on rental markets.”
Cover Story: