More than five million low-income American households paid excessive rent or lived in substandard conditions in 2003, nearly unchanged from the mid-1990s, a U.S. government report showed Tuesday.
The Housing and Urban Development Department, in a report to the U.S. Congress, said 5.18 million low-income households experienced critical housing needs due to low incomes, high rent or substandard conditions compared with 5.20 million in 1995.
The proportion of U.S. families facing such “worst case needs” was 4.89 percent, the department said.
A substantial proportion of those households have “worst case” housing needs despite being fully employed, according to the report.
“This survey tells us that while the number of American households that experience these greatest needs remains fairly constant, it’s still too high,” said Darlene Williams, assistant secretary for policy development and research at the federal housing department.
“This affordability survey reminds us that there are some households who continue paying a disproportionate amount on rent or who live in conditions nobody would want to call home,” Williams said.
Households with “worst case needs” include unassisted renters with incomes below 50 percent of their area median income who pay more than half their income on housing or live in severely substandard conditions.
Of the total households with worst case needs, 2.76 million were white, 1.04 million were black and 1.04 million were Hispanic.
