Money is Policy JRT Housing-Money 4-26lores | Page 3

What you need to know…
n The federal government spends nearly $200 billion
annually on housing. About 70 percent of this spending
supports homeownership, while 30 percent supports
rental housing.
n Today, almost two out of every five households rent their
home. The national annual median income of renters is
less than half that of homeowner households.
n The federal tax code is the primary means of delivering
federal housing subsidies.
n Together, the three largest federal housing subsidies
— the mortgage interest deduction, the deduction for
local property taxes, and the exclusion of capital gains
on sales of principal residences — have an estimated
annual cost of $129 billion.
n Federal rental assistance programs help meet the
housing needs of the lowest-income Americans, many
of whom live below the federal poverty line. However,
fewer than one in four households eligible for federal
rental assistance actually receives this support.
n With rental demand exploding, housing-cost burdens
reaching unacceptable levels, and many lower- and
middle-income Americans unable to access the home-
ownership market, it is time to recalibrate federal policy
to respond to these new realities.
Money is Policy: How Federal Housing Dollars Are Spent
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