New Research on the Lack of Affordable Housing
The Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University’s State of the Nation’s Housing report finds that a lack of housing supply is putting pressure on prices, making affordability a challenge even for middle-income families in many markets. Home construction is barely keeping pace with the formation of new households, and the Center identifies rising land prices and local regulatory constraints on development as primary factors. The Out of Reach report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) documents the gap between renters’ wages and the cost of rental housing. NLIHC finds that a worker earning the federal minimum wage would need to work 103 hours per week to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment at the national average fair market rent.