Out of Reach
Out
of Reach
The
Gap Between Housing Costs and Income of Poor People in the United States
By Cushing N. Dolbeare
Founder and Chair Emeritus
National Low Income Housing Coalition
Many people know that millions of households in the United States cannot afford to pay for decent housing. Far fewer people know the extent of the affordability problem in their own communities. The National Low Income Housing Coalition produces Out of Reach in an effort to provide this information to policy makers and advocates. Out of Reach contains income and rental housing cost data for the fifty states and District of Columbia by state, metropolitan area, and county or, in the case of New England, town. For each, it calculates the income that renter households need in order to afford rental housing and estimates how many of these households cannot afford to pay the Fair Market Rent (FMR), and what they would need to earn to pay the rent and keep their housing costs at 30 percent of their income, the generally accepted standard for affordability established by Congress and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.A Message From Senator Edward M. Kennedy
A Letter From Senator John Kerry
Preface by Stephen Coyle, Chief Executive Officer, AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust
Introduction
Methodology
Sources and Related Information
The Least Affordable States
The Least Affordable States (Combined Nonmetro Areas)
The Least Affordable Metro Areas
Areas With the Highest Housing Wage
Data To View Data for a State, County, Town (New England states only), Metropolitan Statistical Area, or combined nonmetro areas for a state, choose a state:
Appendix: Explanation of Fair Market Rents
Press release
Statement by Cushing N. Dolbeare at 9/9/99 Press Conference
Established in 1974, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is the only national organization dedicated solely to ending America’s affordable housing crisis. NLIHC is committed to educating, organizing, and advocating to ensure safe, decent, affordable housing within healthy neighborhoods for everyone.
NLIHC provides up-to-date information, formulates policy and educates the public on housing needs and the strategies for the solutions.
Additional copies of Out of Reach are available from NLIHC.
Out of Reach and additional data are also available on the Coalition’s web site at www.nlihc.org/oor99.
Requests for permission to make copies of the original material should be mailed or faxed to:
Attn: Publications
National Low Income Housing Coalition
1012 14th Street, NW, Suite 610
Washington, DC 20005
Tel: (202)662-1530
Fax: (202)393-1973
http://www.nlihc.org
info@nlihc.orgThe data for nonmetro areas included in Out of Reach is being published in collaboration with:
Housing Assistance Council
Moises Loza, Executive Director
1025 Vermont Ave., NW, Suite 606
Washington, D.C. 20005
Tel.: 202-842-8600
Fax: 202-347-3441
Web: www.ruralhome.org
