Housing

Stable housing is fundamental to nearly every aspect of life—it makes employment, healthcare, education,and nutritious food accessible.

Housing

Stable housing is fundamental to nearly every aspect of life—it makes employment, healthcare, education,and nutritious food accessible.

Food Insecurity is Driven by Lack of Affordable Housing.

Yet, housing instability is a persistent and growing problem; forcing families into overcrowded living conditions, unsafe neighborhoods, frequent moves, and homelessness. For these families, food is their most flexible resource and a necessary trade-off to keep a roof over their heads

Learn About Hunger - Income Stability

What Contributes to Housing Instability?

An older couple review paperwork together.

Housing costs have risen faster than income and wages, statewide. Nationally, since 1985, rent prices have outpaced income gains by 325%.

While seen as an affordable place to live, Texas ranks sixth among the worst states in the U.S. for affordable housing availability for extremely low-income renters. This crisis extends into rural areas, where 40% of households pay more than 30% of their income on housing.

For every four extremely low-income families, there is only one home available. This shortage is especially severe in high-opportunity areas – places with access to good jobs, schools, healthcare, and transit—where only 7% of affordable units are located.

For many families, there are not enough hours in the day to make the math work. A family earning minimum wage – $7.25 an hour – would need to work over 154 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom apartment – nearly quadruple the average work week.

This does not just apply to minimum wage workers. A typical Texas household must earn nearly $28 per hour to afford the state’s average fair-market rent.

$28 per hour Drivers make $18.79, -$9.21 less. Cashiers make $12.39, -$15.61 less. Secretaries make $18.53, -$9.47 less. Construction makes $16.00, -$12.00 less.

For many families, the gap between what they earn and the rising cost of housing forces difficult trade-offs— sacrificing the quality or quantity of meals, delaying medical care, or foregoing prescriptions.

Even then, these trade-offs are often not enough. One unexpected medical bill or cut in work hours can trigger an eviction.

Renters who are evicted often owe less than $600.

0 evictions
in Texas, in 2022
0%
were in Harris County, alone.

Evictions are devastating. And once evicted, it becomes harder for families to secure housing in the future, forcing families into a cycle of continual displacement.

For landlords, evictions can also be costly, involving legal fees, vacancy turnover, and lost rental income. Addressing housing instability not only supports tenants but also reduces the economic strain on property owners.

Homeownership can be critical to building economic security. Yet, many families remain stuck in a cycle of barely making rent, let alone saving for homeownership. High housing costs, limited access to credit, and unfavorable lending practices keep many renters from saving for a down payment or qualifying for a mortgage.

0%
of all Texas renters are cost-burdened, spending over 30% of income on rent.
0%
of Texas families in poverty devote more than half of their income on rent.

Bridging the gap between incomes and affordable housing allows those gains to be recaptured by the rental market.

Policy Roadmap

Expand Access to Affordable Homes in High Opportunity Areas

Building and preserving affordable homes in areas that connect families to better jobs, schools, and services, is key to unlocking upward mobility thereby reducing food insecurity. This requires expanding construction of affordable homes, increasing the number of housing vouchers, and using tools like community land trusts to sustain affordability.

Prevent Unnecessary Evictions and Support Housing Stability

Policies supportive of tenant protections such as just-cause eviction standards, right to counsel in eviction cases, reasonable rent stabilization, and expungement of dismissed eviction cases are measures to help keep families housed.

Leverage Homeownership as a Pathway to Economic Security

Expanding down payment assistance and promoting access to loans and heir property legal support are critical steps toward making homeownership attainable. These efforts create opportunities for long-term economic stability across generations.

Address Housing Inequities in Rural and Underserved Areas

Rural communities face unique challenges, such as rapidly aging homes, rising rents, and limited access to essential services like health care. Strengthening support for federal programs that preserve existing affordable units, and investing in rural infrastructure like broadband and transportation, can stabilize these communities.

Sources

  1. Astudillo, By Joshua Fechter, Graphics by Carla. “As More Texans Struggle with Housing Costs, Homeownership Becoming Less Attainable.” The Texas Tribune, 24 June 2024, https://www.texastribune.org/2024/06/24/texas-housing-costs-homeownership-rents-harvard/
  2. Joint Center for Housing Studies. (2024). Home Price-to-Income Ratio Reaches Record High. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/home-price-income-ratio-reaches-record-high-0
  3. U.S. Census Bureau. (2022). American Community Survey. U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
  4. National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2024). The Gap: A shortage of affordable homes. https://nlihc.org/gap
  5. Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. (2024). America’s Rental Housing 2024. https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2024.pdf
  6. Nostikasari, D., Shelton, K., Morin, T., & Walker, K. A. (2017). Mapping High Opportunity Areas and Implications for Affordable Housing: Growing butUnequal. Kinder Institute for Urban Research, Rice University. https://rice.app.box.com/s/l1lfx0zv74rhlif4yu061dfa2y31lmos
  7. Freddie Mac. (n.d.). High Opportunity Areas: Case Studies. https://mf.freddiemac.com/docs/high_opportunity_case_studies.pdf
  8. National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2024). Out of Reach The High Cost of Housing. https://nlihc.org/oor
  9. United For ALICE. (2024). ALICE in the Crosscurrents: An Update on Financial Hardship in Texas. https://www.unitedforalice.org/texas
  10. Badger, Emily. (2019) “Many Renters Who Face Eviction Owe Less Than $600.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/12/upshot/eviction-prevention-solutions-government.html
  11. Texas Housers. (2023). An Eviction Crisis in Texas. https://texashousers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/An-Eviction-Crisis-In-Texas.pdf
  12. Collinson, R., Ginter, Z., & Reed, W. (2024). Eviction and poverty in American cities. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 139(1), 57–120. https://doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjad042
  13. Vásquez-Vera, H., Palència, L., Magna, I., Mena, C., Neira, J., & Borrell, C. (2017). The threat of home eviction and its effects on health through the equity lens: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 175, 199–208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.010
  14. Desmond, M., & Kimbro, R. T. (2015). Eviction’s Fallout: Housing, Hardship, and Health. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/mdesmond/files/desmondkimbro.evictions.fallout.sf2015_2.pdf
  15. National Low Income Housing Coalition. (2024). The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/gap/2024/Gap-Report_2024.pdf
  16. Been, V., & Glashausser, A. (2009). Tenants: Innocent Victims of the Nation’s Foreclosure Crisis. Albany Government Law Review.
  17. Journal of Economic Perspectives. (2018). Homeownership and the American Dream. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/96221/homeownership_and_the_american_dream_0.pdf
  18. Choi, Jung Hyun, and Amalie Zinn. “The Wealth Gap Between Homeowners and Renters Has Reached a Historic High.” Urban Institute, Apr. 2024. https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/wealth-gap-between-homeowners-and-renters-has-reached-historic-high
  19. Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (2024). The Housing Affordability Challenge. https://comptroller.texas.gov/about/media-center/news/20240827-texas-comptroller-glenn-hegar-releases-study-on-states-housing-affordability-challenge-1724699586337 [DUPLICATE]
  20. The Pew Charitable Trusts. (2023). Small Mortgages are Too Hard to Get. https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2023/06/small-mortgages-are-too-hard-to-get
  21. Goodman, L., McCargo, A., Golding, E., Bai, B., Ganesh, B., & Strochak, S. (2017). Barriers to Homeownership: Down Payments, Credit Access, andAffordability. Urban Institute. https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/94801/barriers-to-homeownership-down-payments-credit-access-and-affordability_1.pdf