America Has Nowhere Near Enough Extremely Low-Income Housing

A recent report by National Low Income Housing Coalition highlights a severe lack of homes for extremely low-income renters throughout the United States.

"Nationwide, the coalition says there's a shortage of 7.2 million rental homes that are both affordable and available to extremely low-income households," the Washington Post reports. That's 35 viable homes for every 100 such households.

The most severe shortage is in the Las Vegas metro area, where there are only 10 available homes for every 100 renter households with extremely low incomes. The best-case scenario in the country is Providence, Rhode Island, where that ratio is still just 47 to 100.

The coalition recommends the adoption of targeted policies aimed at these vulnerable households, including providing rental assistance and facilitating the production of specifically low-income housing.