This Worst Case Housing Needs report is the sixteenth in a longstanding series providing national data and analysis of the critical problems facing very low-income renting families. Households with worst case needs are defined as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who paid more than one-half of their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both. The report draws on data from the 2015 American Housing Survey (AHS), which debuted a major redesign that included a new national and metropolitan area longitudinal sample.
Public housing agencies (PHAs) have struggled heroically to maintain the country’s 1.1 million public housing units, but the backlog of capital needs has grown to $26 billion, and there is little hope today that federal resources will rise to meet it. Congress authorized the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) in 2012 to meet this funding challenge.
Executive Summary
Public housing occupies a unique and essential place on the affordable housing spectrum. It is home to about 2.2 million lowincome families, seniors and people with disabilities. A multibillion dollar asset, public housing authorities’ (PHAs) spending on operations and capital improvements also generates significant economic activity.
The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities (CLPHA) is a national non-profit organization that works to preserve and improve public and affordable housing through advocacy, research, policy analysis and public education. Our membership of more than seventy large public housing authorities (“PHAs”) own and manage nearly half of the nation’s public housing program, administer more than a quarter of the Housing Choice Voucher program, and operate a wide array of other housing programs.
WHY PUBLIC HOUSING?
As one of the nation’s largest sources of affordable housing, public hous- ing plays a central role in the nation’s infrastructure. Like roads and bridges, affordable housing is a long-term asset that helps communities and families thrive. Public housing represents a significant investment on the part of the federal government: over $162 billion including land costs. The program provides 1.2 million units of affordable housing to over 2.2 million people, including 750,000 children.
