Skip to main content
Research Publication

American Housing Survey Data Shows Changes in Multifamily Supply Unfavorable to Lower-Income Renters

February 11, 2016

Lower-income households that are looking for affordable multifamily rental housing are faced with significant challenges. With little new stock affordable to them, many lower-income households are renting apartments that are beyond their financial means, leaving them less money for food, healthcare, transportation to work, and other necessities.

Using data from the American Housing Survey, this edition of Housing Insights presents estimates of changes to the stock of multifamily housing in the U.S., broken down by tenure, affordability, and assisted rental housing status. The results show that lower-income renters have lost ground recently. The average monthly rent of a unit lost from stock was $600 while the average monthly rent of a unit added was $1,000. In addition, while the number of units lost has decreased, lower-income renters experienced a disproportionate amount of those lost units, and that units added were affordable to higher-income renters. Only one-quarter of the units added (approximately 38,000 annually) were affordable to Very Low Income renters, further highlighting renter affordability challenges.

To learn more, read our latest edition of Housing Insights and related Perspective.

American Housing Survey Data Shows Changes in Multifamily Supply Unfavorable to Lower-Income Renters (PDF)