- A household with one member employed full time earning the minimum wage cannot afford the fair-market rent for a two bedroom apartment ANYWHERE in the United States
- The above-mentioned worker would have to be making $15.28 an hour, almost three times the current federal minimum wage
- Over 30 million American households face either cost burdens, overcrowding, or physical housing inadequacy.
- Cost burdening occurs when a household spends more than 30% of its income on housing costs, yet over 13 million households spend more than 50% of their income on housing.
- Overcrowding exists when the number of people living in the house is greater than the total number of rooms in the house, and over 6.1 million households are currently experiencing this issue.
- Physical inadequacy results from a dwelling having severe physical deficiencies including a lack of hot water, electricity, toilet, or neither a bathtub nor a shower. Statistics show that one in seven families are living in physically inadequate conditions.
- The US Department of Housing and Urban Development reported in 2003 that over 5 million American households face “worst-case housing needs”, wherein the families may be renters receiving no government assistance, making less than 50% of their area’s median income, spending over 50% of their income on housing costs, or live in housing with severe physical deficiencies.
- The HUD further reports that these figures include 3.6 million children, 1.6 million senior citizens, and 1.3 million disabled adults.
- Of the 30 million households experiencing housing issues, 14.5 million qualify for government aid, but only 4.1 million actually get any.
- For every 100 low-income renters, only 76 affordable units are available
- Between 1997 and 2001, the number of available units declined 13 percent for a total of 1.8 million FEWER units available to low-income renters
- For the 14.8 million American households making $10,000 or less per year, a year’s rent costs approximately 70% of their annual income
Statistics courtesy of Habitat for Humanity
