HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has released detailed data about households receiving Federal housing assistance. According to the new data, in 2013 there were over 5.2 million HUD-subsidized housing units in the United States serving over 10 million people. Over the next week or two, NHC’s Center for Housing Policy will be analyzing the subsidized household data to provide a better understanding of the characteristics of families and individuals who benefit from HUD programs. A few key findings from the national data:
- Three-quarters of subsidized households are extremely low income, meaning they have incomes below 30 percent of area median income (AMI).
- Subsidized households have an average monthly income of $1,074 and spend an average of $304 on rent.
- One-third of subsidized households are headed by a person age 62.
- On average, subsidized households live in census tracts where 25 percent of the households are at or below the poverty level.
- Forty-four percent of households assisted are African-American; 17 percent are Hispanic.
- Eight percent of subsidized households moved into their unit in the past year.
- The New York region has the highest total number of subsidized households at over 508,000. The Herbert, Utah region has one subsidized household.
- Over 328,000 subsidized households (or about 6.3 percent of all subsidized households) live outside a core-based statistical area (CBSA). (A CBSA is region with an urban center that has at least 10,000 people.)
Stay tuned for more analysis of the subsidized household data from NHC. We will explore questions like:
- How do the characteristics of subsidized households vary by region?
- How long do people stay on the waiting list and how long do residents tend to remain in subsidized housing?
- How does the number of HUD subsidized units in a place compare to the number of units created under the LIHTC program?
- In what regions are subsidized units most likely to be located in low-poverty neighborhoods?