#FastFacts: Affordable Housing Needs

While the nation’s economy is recovering, millions of low income American families are still struggling to find stable, adequate affordable housing. More than half of households earning less than $30,000 a year spend half their income on rent. This leaves little for necessities such as healthy food, medical care, school fees, transportation or savings. Here are five share-able tweets that illustrate the shocking need to increase America’s stock of affordable housing:

   #FastFacts: wage needed to affrd 2 bdrm > 2.5 times fed minimum wage and 52% higher than in 2000 #housingneeds – via @Liifund

    #FastFacts: Of 10.2mm low-income renters in US, 3 out of 4 spend > 50% of their income on housing. #housingneeds – via @Liifund

    #FastFacts: Of 19mm low-income households eligible for housing assistance, only 24% receive help #housingneeds – via @Liifund

    #FastFacts: Over past 3 yrs, 52% of U.S. adults have made at least 1 sacrifice to cover rent or mortgage. #housingneeds – via @Liifund

    #FastFacts: For every 100 extremely low-income renter households, there are only 31 available affordable units. #housingneeds – via @Liifund

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Want more information? To learn more about America’s housing crisis and why affordable housing matters read:

Marcrthur Foundation’s How Housing Matters reports

The National low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach report

The Urban Institute’s Housing Assistance Matters Initiative