No state, including New York, has an adequate supply of affordable housing for its lowest-income residents, according to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
There are just 35 affordable housing units per 100 extremely low-income renter households, of which there are 986,369 in the state. The report doesn’t break out stats for Rochester, but does for the Buffalo metro, which are similar to the state numbers.
All told, the U.S. is short 7.2 million rental homes affordable and available to renters with extremely low income — those at or below federal poverty guidelines or 30% of the area median income. The median household income in New York State is $85,974 and 14% of the state population is in poverty, according to Census data.
Roughly 35% of all households in the U.S. are renters, accounting for roughly 46 million households. Nearly a quarter of those, 11 million households, are extremely low-income and another 9.8 million households are very low-income.
Most of those in extremely low-income households either work low-wage jobs or may be unable to work, the report said. A plurality (34%) are in the labor force, with 41% of those working at least 40 hours a week. Seniors (33%) make up the next largest group of extremely low-income households.
For comparison, middle-income renters are mostly in the labor force (78%), with much fewer seniors (16%) or those with disabilities (9%).
The state is nearing the end of a five-year, $25 billion housing plan to create or preserve 100,000 affordable homes statewide. Of those, 6,000 have been built or preserved in Monroe County, with 4,700 of those in Rochester.
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: New York lacks affordable homes for lowest-income renters
