On June 18, the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University (JCHS) released The State of the Nation’s Housing 2018. This is the 30th anniversary of the annual report which tracks trends in the national housing market. 

While the full report is linked here, we have included key findings related to housing affordability, housing cost burden, and homeownership that are critical to Prosperity Indiana’s members. 

The report underlines why our advocacy for strong housing and community development policies and robust funding is so critical. Want to get more involved? Contact our Policy Director, Kathleen Lara at klara@prosperityindiana.org.

JCHS' State of the Nation's Housing 2018:

• Since 1988, the number of households burdened by housing costs in America has risen by nearly 14 million.
• Nearly a third of U.S. households (38.1 million) paid more than 30% of their incomes for housing in 2016. More than half (20.8 million) are renters, and fully 80% of renters and 63% of owners making less than $30,000 are cost burdened.
• Increases in the median sales price of existing homes have outstripped growth in median household income for six straight years. The price of a typical existing home sold in 2017 was more than four times the median income.
• The homeownership rate between black and white Americans is widening. Between 1994 and 2016, black homeownership rates increased just 0.3% while white rates rose 2.2%, widening the black-white gap to 29.2%.
  
  

Some challenges identified in the first 1988 report persist today:

• Homeownership rates among young adults are even lower than in 1988, and the share of cost-burdened renters is significantly higher with soaring housing costs to blame.
  
• The national median rent rose 20 percent faster than overall inflation between 1990 and 2016 and the median home price rose 41 percent faster.
• Comparing rent-to-income: Since 1960, median earnings increased 5% while rents rose 61%.
• The number of low income families increased by 6 million nationally since 1988, while the number of apartments renting below $800, affordable to households making $32,000 or less, declined by more than 2.5 million between 1990 and 2016.
• In 2016, only 35 available rental units were affordable for every 100 extremely low income (ELI) renter households, those earning less than the poverty level or 30% of the area median income (AMI). 
• There is a nationwide shortage of more than 7.2 million rental homes affordable and available to ELI renter households.
• For these cost-burdened renter households, an emergency expense or unexpected loss of income could result in eviction and homelessness. After a decline of 14% between 2010 and 2016, the homeless population increased by 3,800 people in 2017.
• Despite the increasing need, federal rental assistance is grossly insufficient. Only one out of every four very low income (VLI) renter households, those at or below 50% AMI, receives housing assistance.
• From 1987 to 2015, the number of VLI households grew by 6 million, while the number receiving housing assistance increased by only 950,000.
• The share of these households receiving assistance declined from 29% to 25%.