| Duration of Rent Burden as a Measure of Need
Scott Susin
U.S. Census Bureau
This article is released to inform interested parties of research and to encourage discussion. The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the U.S. Census Bureau or the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
A number of measures show that very-low-income households with a longer duration of severe rent burdens are more disadvantaged than other very-low-income renters who experience severe rent burdens for a shorter, or no, time. The rate of exit from severe rent burdened status is 56 percent in the first year of a spell, but falls to 32 percent in the second and later years. Renters with severe rent burdens in all years of a 3-year period were substantially more disadvantaged, according to a number of indicators, than those with fewer or no years of severe rent burdens. Very-low-income households with 1 or 2 years of severe rent burdens sometimes fell between those with 0 and 3 years, but by many measures they were quite similar to those with no rent burden in any of the three years, and by a few measures were actually less disadvantaged than very-low-income renters without any time in rent-burdened status. Various measures of disadvantage, such as nonemployment and the receipt of Supplemental Security Income (SSI) predict the persistence of rent burdens. Hence, targeting those with several years of severe rent burdens would target a needier population than targeting those with only a single rent-burdened year. At the same time, there are also some reasons not to direct assistance to the most needy population.
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