Severe Renter Costs Burden

25% of U.S. renters pay the majority of their household income on housing costs. In Louisiana and Florida, it’s 29% of renters.

Severe housing cost burdens by county, 2017-21 (5-yr average)

Percent of renter households paying half or more of household income on housing costs

Source: Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 2017-21.

The United States has been experiencing a severe housing shortage since the Great Recession when new home construction dramatically declined — driving up home prices over the decade without commensurate increases in income.^1,2 From 2017-21, at least 1 in 4 renters in several Southern states (Louisiana: 29%, Florida: 29%, West Virginia: 25%, Mississippi: 25%, and South Carolina: 25%) paid at least half of their total household income toward housing costs. Having to spend the majority of their income on rent means less money for families to buy food, clothing, medical care, educational needs, and other necessities (Food Insecurity).^3,4

As the growth in rent prices continues to outpace the growth in income, renters look to affordable housing to ease housing cost burdens.⁵ But the National Low Income Housing Coalition finds that there is currently a shortage of 7.3 million affordable rental homes across the nation, driven by an increase in the number of low-income renters and a decrease in the supply of low-cost housing units.⁶ Some private markets were found to supply low-cost rental units, but with unaffordable utility costs, often totaling an additional $500 or more a month. Three out of every four eligible families did not receive federal housing assistance due to a severely underfunded budget. A survey by the Southern Economic Advancement Project (SEAP) of SNAP recipients in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Tennessee finds that 1 in 3 respondents wanted federal funding to be spent on affordable housing.⁷

1. “A Decade of Home Building: The Long Recovery of the 2010s”. Dietz. National Association of Home Builders. January, 2020. https://eyeonhousing.org/2020/01/a-decade-of-home-building-the-long-recovery-of-the-2010s/ 

2. “Gap between income growth and housing cost increases continues to grow”. Binkovitz. Kinder Institute for Urban Research. July, 2019. https://kinder.rice.edu/urbanedge/gap-between-income-growth-and-housing-cost-increases-continues-grow 

3. “Housing Cost Burden, Material Hardship, and WellBeing”. Shamsuddin, Campbell. Housing Policy Debate. March, 2021. https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Housing-Cost-Burden-Material-Hardship-and-Well-Being.pdf

4. “The Rent Eats First – Rental Housing Unaffordability in the US”. Airgood-Obrycki, Hermann, and Wedeen. Joint Center for Housing Studies. January, 2021. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/research/files/harvard_jchs_rent_eats_first_airgood-obrycki_hermann_wedeen_2021.pdf

5. “‘A steady deterioration’: US communities face a public housing crisis”. Kofsky, Rosenfeld. ABC News. May, 2023. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/steady-deterioration-us-communities-face-public-housing-crisis/story?id=99049597

6. “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing”. National Low Income Housing Coalition. https://nlihc.org/oor

7. “Louisiana, South Carolina and Tennessee Residents Weigh in on Federal Funding”. The Southern Economic Advancement Project. May, 2023. http://100.26.193.31/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Federal-Funding-Community-Needs-Survey-Data-Report-June-2023.pdf