Money is Policy JRT Housing-Money 4-26lores | Page 5

7,514 8,178 36,004
n Millions of households are devoting
F i g u re A
20312
just to cover housing costs. According to Number of Renters with Housing Cost Burdens
Has Increased Over Time
Harvard’s Joint Center for Housing Studies, (in thousands)
unsustainable amounts of their income
n Moderate Burden
n Severe Burden
n Total Renters
in 2015 nearly 19 million families spent in
excess of half their incomes on housing. 1 In
7,514
other words, for every $2 in income these
households earned, more than $1 was
8,349 9,323 37,760
20088
2003
spent on housing costs alone, forcing some
Total
Renters
36,004
families to forego essentials like nutritious
food and medical care.
8,178
n The problem of housing affordability
8,349
impacts renters most severely. Millions of
9,549
21593
11,216
42,358
2008
families transitioned from owning to renting
Total
Renters
37,760
following the collapse of the homeowner-
ship market in 2008. In addition, the oldest
9,323
members of the Millennial generation (those
86 million Americans born between 1985
9,888
and 2004) have begun forming households
for the first time, with many seeking rental
2015
housing in urban areas. Not surprisingly,
Total
Renters
43,570
rents have risen significantly in response to
this spike in demand. In 2015, more than
11,139
21 million renter households were cost
burdened, paying more than 30 percent
of their income on housing. Of those,
11.1 million renter households, constituting
Number of Renters Over Time
more than one quarter of all renter house-
holds, paid in excess of 50 percent of their
income on housing alone. (See Figure A.) 2 2003
n In the immediate future, America’s chang- 2008
ing demographics will challenge a housing
system that is already under significant
2015
strain. New household formation by
millions of Millennials, combined with
the increasing diversity and aging of the
population, will fuel the demand for rental
homes, pushing rents even higher.
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Money is Policy : How Federal Housing Dollars Are Spent
0
10000
20000
30000
40000
50000
Source: Adapted from Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard
University, The State of the Nation’s Housing 2015 (2015), Table A-1,
and additional data supplied by the Joint Center. Notes: Moder-
ate (severe) burdens are defined as housing costs of 30-50% (more
than 50%) of household income. Households with zero or negative
income are assumed to be severely burdened, while renters paying
no cash rent are assumed to be unburdened.
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