New report by National Low-Income Housing Coalition highlights a deepening crisis without a national response. The cost of fixing the nation?s widening affordable housing shortage measures in the billions of dollars. But if the healthcare costs that come with this lack of housing security are factored in, replenishing and expanding our low-income housing stock becomes an even better investment.
During a press call about The Gap?the National Low-Income Housing Coalition?s annual report on the state of the nation?s housing?Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the NLIHC, described a situation at a breaking point.
Today, more than 8 million Americans spend more than half their income on housing, meaning that these severely rent-burdened households have little left every month to pay for food, transportation, and healthcare. No state or city in the entire country has an adequate supply of housing for extremely low-income housing population; California alone is short one million units.
National Low-Income Housing Coalition

The political responses to this crisis couldn?t be more opposed. The Trump administration, in its latest budget proposal, suggests slashing funding for the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) by more than 16 percent, with those cuts affecting public housing and the maintenance and improvement of public housing buildings, and wants to add work requirements to existing programs.
At the same time, according to Yentel, the ...