Report and Webinar: Research Shows Benefits of Rental Assistance

Council of Large Public Housing Authorities
Washington, District of Columbia
Tuesday, January 14, 2020 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm
Virtual

Greetings, 

Report and Webinar: Research Shows Benefits of Rental Assistance

A strong body of research shows that federal rental assistance sharply reduces homelessness and other hardship and lifts 3 million people out of poverty, as we discuss in a new report and blog.  Rental assistance can also substantially improve adults’ health and children’s chances for long-term success, particularly if it enables families to move to lower-poverty neighborhoods with strong schools and less crime.  But roughly 16 million families who need rental assistance do not receive it due to funding limitations.  Policymakers could enable many more people to receive the benefits rental assistance can provide, by extending rental assistance to more families and by doing more to help families that have rental assistance live in higher-opportunity areas if they want to.

Please join us for a webinar on Tuesday, January 14 from 2:00- 3:00 Eastern discussing the paper’s findingsTo register, click here.

Rents Have Risen More Than Incomes in Nearly Every State Since 2001

Our state rental assistance fact sheets now include the latest data on median rent and renter income trends from 2001 to 2018. As Alicia Mazzara explains in her latest blog, growth in median rents has outpaced growth in median renter income since 2001 in nearly every state. Renters’ incomes generally are recovering from the 2001 and 2007-2009 recessions but, in nearly half of states, the median renter household still earned less in 2018 than in 2001 in inflation-adjusted terms. At the same time, rental costs have risen, including in states where real incomes have fallen. Our federal rental assistance fact sheets also includes demographic information on low-income families receiving, or in need of, federal rental assistance in every state, including information on children, adults, seniors, people with disabilities, and people experiencing homelessness.

Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
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