Research released April 21 highlights the systemic shortage of affordable rental homes for households with the lowest incomes and, overall, describes a 7 million unit “gap” in rental homes affordable to renter households with extremely low incomes. 

The Gap, from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, describes the lack of affordable housing for renters, a shortage that falls particularly hard on the nation’s 11 million extremely low income renters (with household incomes below 30% of Area Median Income). Extremely low income renter households account for 25% of all renter households, and 9% of all U.S. households.

According to The Gap, people of color are much more likely than white people to be renters and have extremely low incomes. Twenty percent of Black households, 18% of American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN) households, 15% of Latino households, and 10% of Asian households are extremely low income renters. Only 6% of white non-Latino households are extremely low-income renters, the report says.

The report compares the number of U.S. renter households in various income groups, including extremely low income, very low income, and low income. Then, the report documents how many rental units are not only affordable but available to each of the income groups. The report concludes that there is an absolute shortage of approximately seven million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low income renter households. “Only 36 affordable and available homes exist for every 100 extremely low income renter households,” the report says. This difference between 36 and 100 is “the gap.” Seventy-one percent (7.8 million) of the nation’s 11 million extremely low income renter households are severely housing cost-burdened, spending more than half of their incomes on rent and utilities. They account for 72% of all severely rent-burdened renter households.

Extremely low income renters are more likely than those in the general renter population to be at least 62 years old or to have a disability, the report says. Among extremely low income renter households, the report says, 37% are in the labor force, 27% are older adults, 19% include a householder with a disability, and another 7% are students or single-adult caregivers to a young child or household member with a disability.

The relative supply of affordable and available rental homes improves as incomes increase, this annual report says on an annual basis.

Compared to the 36 affordable and available homes exist for every 100 extremely low income renter households, 58 exist for every 100 renter households with incomes at or below 50% of AMI (“very low income households”). Ninety-three and 101 affordable and available rental homes exist for every 100 renter households with incomes at or below 80% (“low income”) and 100% of AMI, respectively.

Of course, geographic differences exist. The report includes gap data for each state.

A majority of extremely low income renters are severely housing cost-burdened in every state. According to the report, the states with the greatest percentages of extremely low income renter households with severe cost burdens are Nevada (81%), Florida (80%), California (76%), Oregon (76%), Arizona (76%), and Colorado (74%). Rhode Island (57%), Maine (58%), and Massachusetts (60%) have the smallest, but still significant, percentages of extremely low income renters with severe cost burdens.

Read the report here.