New 2001 Federal Data Reveals That 4.8 Million Low- To Moderate-Income Working Households Have Critical Housing Needs 8/29/2002
From: John Bohm of the National Housing Conference, 202-466-2121, ext. 222 ADVANCE Embargoed For Release Monday, Sept. 2 /ADVANCE/ WASHINGTON, Sept. 2 -- Working the equivalent of a full-time job does not ensure working families a decent, affordable place to live. This is the somber finding from The Center for Housing Policy (CHP) in Washington, DC, the nonprofit research subsidiary of the National Housing Conference (NHC). CHP is in the process of completing an analysis of recently released 2001 federal data. Its review and analysis of the data thus far indicates that there are 14.5 million households with critical housing needs; that is, they pay more than half their income for housing, and/or live in a substandard unit. This represents a nine percent increase from just over 13 million in 1999. Alarmingly, the number of low- to moderate-income working households with critical housing needs jumped 24 percent -- from 3.9 million to 4.8 million -- over the two-year period. According to NHC Executive Director Bob Reid, low- to moderate-income working families are those earning between the full-time minimum wage and 120 percent of area median income. These households comprise a growing share of all households with critical housing needs, rising from 23 percent in 1997 to 29 percent in 1999 to slightly over one-third (33.5 percent) in 2001. Reid commented on the significance of these numbers and the need for swift action: "Labor Day offers us an opportunity to recognize and reflect upon the contributions of working families across the nation. This Labor Day, to honor the dedication and achievements of working men and women and to support them in a meaningful way in these challenging times, we should resolve to address the growing need to provide decent affordable housing in this country. We need to recognize the tremendous burden faced by working families who in growing numbers are finding it increasingly difficult to purchase, maintain or rent decent affordable housing. Our research underscores the need to act now to increase the current supply of affordable housing in this country." NHC, a leader in the fight for resources and policies to increase the availability of affordable housing including housing for low- and moderate-income working families expects to complete its analysis of the 2001 data and release its findings in October. To date NHC has published three ground breaking reports on the housing needs of working families; Housing America's Working Families released in June 2000, Paycheck To Paycheck; Working Families and the Cost of Housing in America released in July of 2001 and Housing America's Working Families: A Further Exploration released in March of this year. The information contained in these reports can be found on NHC's Web site http://www.nhc.org ------ The National Housing Conference (NHC), a 501(c)(3) member organization, is a coalition of affordable housing experts from the public and private sectors. Since 1931, NHC has been an essential source of broad, nonpartisan information concerning national housing policy. |