HUD’s full Worst Case Housing Needs 2011 study, released on August 14, reports a 19% increase since 2009 in the number of very low income renter households (incomes at or below 50% of area median) with worst case housing needs (housing costs consume more than half their income or they live in severely inadequate conditions). The 2011 estimate of 8.47 million households represents a 43.5% increase since 2007. The report profiles the characteristics of these households ( e.g. 17% are elderly without children, 38% are families with children, 9% are other family types and 35% are persons living alone or with roomates). It details the causes of the increase, including new household formation (15%), changes in tenure as owners become renters (37%), decreases in renter incomes (15%), increases in rents and the failure of housing assistance programs to expand.
