The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ (CBPP) updated Chart Book: Federal Housing Spending is Poorly Matched to Need continues to show how federal housing expenditures disproportionately benefit higher income homeowners, and leaves 75% of qualified low income renters without housing assistance. Seven million households with incomes greater than $200,000 received a larger share of federal housing expenditures in 2015 than the 55 million households with incomes less than $50,000. The average benefit for households with incomes over $200,000 is $6,076, while the average benefit for households with income less than $20,000 is $1,529.
The largest federal housing expenditures are the mortgage interest and property tax deductions taken by homeowners on their federal income tax returns. More than $100 billion is expended on these two deductions, 80% of which goes to households with incomes above $100,000 and 40% to households with incomes above $200,000. Less than $50 billion is spent on the major federal housing programs for low income households – public housing, Housing Choice Vouchers, project-based rental assistance, and Low Income Housing Tax Credits.
Federal rental assistance for very low and extremely low income households has not kept pace with the need. The number of unassisted households with worst-case housing needs, those who are very low income and either live in inadequate housing or spend more than half of their income on housing, has increased over the last decade to 7.7 million, but the number of households receiving HUD rental assistance has remained steady at approximately 4.6 million.
Chart Book: Federal Housing Spending is Poorly Matched to Need is available at: http://bit.ly/261SXvf