A report issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) states that 5.4 million low-income families in the United States were paying more than half of their income for housing in 1997, or living in dilapidated units, a rise of 12 percent since the expansion of the U.S. economy began in 1991.

"The 5.4 million households counted by HUD include 12.3 million individuals considered so poor as to be one paycheck away from homelessness," states a Wall Street Journal article about the findings. "But the households are more likely than ever to include at least one full-time worker. The rent burden grew three times faster for working families than any other category." Especially hard hit are Black and Latino families with children.

"This is the highest need for affordable housing since we have been taking numbers," admitted Andrew Cuomo, secretary of housing and urban development.

The crisis has been compounded as landlords opt out of cheaper public housing programs, upgrade their units, and then boost the rents to levels that only middle class and more wealthy tenants can afford. According to the report, from 1991 to 1997 the number of "affordable-housing units" declined by 370,000.

This situation is compounded by a sharp decline in even the meager funds the federal government has made available to low income families. From 1995 to 1998, for example, Congress offered no Section 8 vouchers--rental subsidies that offset the cost of market rents--compared with 39,700 vouchers in 1994.

President William Clinton is requesting an additional 120,000 vouchers in his 2001 budget, a mere drop in the bucket compared to the desperate need of millions for much lower rents.  
 
 
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