Trends in Worst Case Needs for Housing, 1978–1999
After having increased by one-fifth over the previous 10 years, between 1997
and 1999 the number of U.S. households with worst case needs
for rental assistance fell significantly, by at least 8 percent,
to 4.86 million. This reduction in worst case needs resulted
from increases in income among very-low-income renters, but
not from increases in the number of rental units affordable
to them. Instead, the trend of decline in the number of rental
units affordable to extremely-low-income households accelerated
between 1997 and 1999.
The findings detailed in this report thus represent both
good and bad news. Real, significant drops in numbers of households
with severe rent burdens reduced the share of U.S. households
with worst case needs in 1999 to 4.7 percent, a record low
for the past two decades, and this marked improvement shows
that progress can be made in addressing the nation’s
most serious housing problems. Worsening shortages of housing
affordable and available to extremely-low-income renters,
however, show that the underlying gap between demand and supply
continues.
This report also looks more generally at trends over the
past two decades in housing problems among both owners and
renters at all income levels. The most notable changes are
increases in affordability problems among low-income owners.
Although severe affordability problems remain more common
among very-low-income renters than other renters or owners
at any income level, over the past two decades the number
and share of very-low-income owners with affordability problems
have risen more rapidly.
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