The nation’s severe shortage of affordable and available homes disproportionately affects people of color, reports the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).
African-American, Native American, Hispanic, and Asian households are more likely than white households to be extremely low-income renters. Twenty percent of black households, 17% of Native American or Alaska Native households, 15% of Hispanic households, and 10% of Asian households are extremely low-income renters, compared with 6% of white households, according to NLIHC in this year’s “The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes” report.
While black households account for 12% of all households in the U.S., they account for 26% of all extremely low-income (ELI) renter households, reports the organization.
Each year, NLIHC examines the availability of rental homes affordable to extremely low-income households, those with incomes at or below the poverty line or 30% of the area median income, and other income groups.
Once again, the situation is grim, with ELI renters facing a shortage of 7 million affordable and available rental homes. Nationally, only 36 affordable and available homes exist for every 100 extremely low-income renter households.
And, no state has an adequate supply of affordable and available homes. The relative supply ranges from 18 affordable and available homes for every 100 extremely low-income rental households in Nevada to 62 in West Virginia. The shortage of affordable homes ranges from 8,200 in Wyoming to nearly 1 million in California.
Solutions to the affordable housing shortage include a significant investment in the National Housing Trust Fund, an annual block grant to states for the creation and preservation of rental housing for the lowest-income renters. Other solutions include an increased and sustained commitment to housing choice vouchers, project-based rental assistance, and public housing, reports NLIHC.
NLIHC also calls on Congress to expand and reform the low-income housing tax credit to serve more ELI households; implement a fully refundable renters’ tax credit; and create a National Housing Stabilization Fund to provide emergency assistance to low-income households facing housing instability and eviction when experiencing an economic setback.
