A record number of U.S. renter households — 21.6 million, or nearly half of all the nation’s tenants — were spending 30% or more of their income on housing in 2021, according to a new analysis from the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.
Those tenants are considered “cost-burdened,” a term used by experts and advocates to describe renters who spend more than the commonly recommended portion of their paychecks on shelter, and may be at greater risk for eviction, debt and delays in healthcare. Yet there’s never been more of them at any point in the past 20 years of data collection, the Joint Center for Housing Studies said.
“Taken as a whole, the data indicate the importance of programs targeted towards lower-income renters such as rental assistance and income supports,” Peyton Whitney, a research assistant at the Joint Center for Housing Studies, wrote in an article about the analysis Wednesday. “At the same time, there is clear need for strategies to increase the existing housing supply, which would keep housing costs in check and ultimately benefit households at all income levels.
30% of your monthly income is the max you should spend on housing.. they’ll be alright
The cost of houses and rentals are too high in relation to people salaries.. they’ll eventually get evicted or foreclosed on and the housing crisis will start all over again..