This study presents national estimates of the number of households that include people with disabilities who have worst case housing needs and presents their characteristics. It provides a supplement to the Worst Case Housing Needs 2009: Report to Congress, released in February 2011. People with disabilities face additional burdens to finding safe and affordable housing for several reasons, such as being subjected to housing discrimination and encountering limited availability of accessible housing units. This supplement responds to the need to improve the estimation of the number of people with disabilities with severe housing needs and address the known undercount of past estimations. This supplement also analyzes the extent to which new direct questions on disabilities, added to the 2009 American Housing Survey (AHS), improve the estimation of people with disabilities and it discusses remaining limitations toward identifying people with disabilities with severe housing needs using this survey.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) finds dramatic increases in worst case housing needs during the 2009-2011 period that cut across demographic groups, household types, and regions. This rise in hardship among renters is due to substantial increases in rental housing demand and weakening incomes that increase competition for already-scarce affordable units.Given the severely challenged economic conditions that the United States confronted during this period, particularly surrounding the housing market, it is not surprising that the need for housing assistance continues to outpace the ability of federal, state, and local governments to supply it. The forthcoming Worst Case Housing Needs 2011: Report to Congress will examine the causes of and trends in worst case needs for affordable rental housing.

This report covers the timeframe from 2013-2015 based on the American Housing Survey (AHS) data that is funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and U.S. Department of Commerce, U.S. Census Bureau. This report provides national data and analysis of the critical problems facing low-income renting families. Households in this report are defined as very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and who paid more than one-half their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions or both. Contributing most to the increase in worst case needs between years 2013 and 2015 was a notable shift from home ownership to renting. Modest gains in household incomes were met with rising rents, shrinking supply of affordable housing stock in an increasingly competitive market. This data identifies a worst-case needs household as a family with two children, most often a minority family headed either by a single female or married couple. Municipal and state government personnel within the Housing Authority that offer affordable housing properties to its citizens may be most interested in this data. Additionally, rental property managers and builders, American citizens, policymakers, economic developers and advisors, and community planners may also find this research helpful to their strategic program needs. High school students and above may be interested in the statistical data that includes text, tables, charts representing this population and their needs for the basic necessity of housing to provide primary source materials for research reports and term papers. Related products: 2018 Healthy Homes Calendar available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/2018-health-homes-planner Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, 2012 is available here: https://bookstore.gpo.gov/products/income-poverty-and-health-insurance-coverage-united-states-2012

The Affordable Housing Reader brings together classic works and contemporary writing on the themes and debates that have animated the field of affordable housing policy as well as the challenges in achieving the goals of policy on the ground. The Reader – aimed at professors, students, and researchers – provides an overview of the literature on housing policy and planning that is both comprehensive and interdisciplinary. It is particularly suited for graduate and undergraduate courses on housing policy offered to students of public policy and city planning. The Reader is structured around the key debates in affordable housing, ranging from the conflicting motivations for housing policy, through analysis of the causes of and solutions to housing problems, to concerns about gentrification and housing and race. Each debate is contextualized in an introductory essay by the editors, and illustrated with a range of texts and articles. Elizabeth Mueller and Rosie Tighe have brought together for the first time into a single volume the best and most influential writings on housing and its importance for planners and policy-makers.

Since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, American housing policy has focused on building homes for the poor. But seventy-five years of federal housing projects have not significantly ameliorated crime, decreased unemployment, or improved health; recent reforms have failed to revitalize low-income neighborhoods or stimulate the economy. To be successful in the twenty-first century, American housing policy must stop reinventing failed programs. Housing Policy at a Crossroads: The Why, How, and Who of Assistance Programs provides a comprehensive survey of past low-income housing programs, including public and subsidized housing, tax credits for developers, and block grants for state and local governments. John C. Weicher's comparative analysis of these programs yields several key conclusions: Affordability, not quality, is the most pressing challenge for housing policy today; of all the housing programs, vouchers have provided the most choice for the poor at the lowest cost to the taxpayer; because vouchers are much less expensive than public or subsidized housing, future subsidized projects would be an inefficient use of resources; vouchers should be offered only to the poorest members of society, ensuring that aid is available to those who need it most. At once a history of housing policy, a guide to issues confronting policymakers, and a case for vouchers as the cheapest, most effective solution, Housing Policy at a Crossroads is a timely warning that reinventing failed building programs would be a very costly wrong turn for America.