The Office of Policy, Development and Research (PDR) at HUD released its biennial Worst Case Housing Needs report to Congress, shedding light on the critical problems facing low-income renting families.
- It primarily draws on research from the 2023 American Housing Survey, which is funded by HUD and conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.
- The report shows:
- Economic growth has been insufficient to lift the wages of low-income renting families high enough to make rent affordable; and
- “National macroeconomic policies, such as record immigration, have combined to drive sustained high rental demand, which has continued to place upward pressure on rent prices.”
- In 2023, only 59 affordable units were available per 100 very low-income renter households, and only 38 units were available per 100 extremely low-income renter households.
- Worst case needs were common in every region and metropolitan category across the nation but most prevalent in the West, the South, and urban suburbs.
- “While incentivizing an increase in the supply of housing that is affordable to households across the income spectrum is critical for reducing worst case needs, moderating demand factors that exacerbate the crisis, such as large-scale immigration, loose monetary policy, and subsidies that may drive demand faster than supply can keep up, is perhaps even more critical.”
