Habitat For Humanity

624 Words3 Pages
Habitat for Humanity Stats THE UNITED STATES' HOUSING NEED IS GREAT More than 30 million U.S. households face one or more of the following housing problems: Cost burdens: paying an excessively large percentage of income on housing costs. More than 13 million households pay more than 50 percent of their income for housing. Overcrowding: the number of people living in the house is greater than the total number of rooms in the house. About 6.1 million households live in overcrowded conditions. Physical inadequacy: severe physical deficiencies, such as having no hot water, no electricity, no toilet, or neither a bathtub nor a shower. One out of every seven poor families lives in severely physically inadequate housing. GOVERNMENT AID IS NOT HELPING MOST OF THOSE IN NEED Of the 30 million households with housing problems, 14.5 million qualify for government aid, yet only 4.1 million are actually receiving any. In fact, most of the U.S. government's housing subsidies do not benefit the poor. For example, in 1995, homeowners earning more than $100,000 per year received a total of $28.9 billion in federal income tax deductions on mortgage interest payments. By comparison, the entire 1999 budget of HUD was only $25 billion. AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS GETTING HARDER TO FIND For every 100 very low-income renters, only 76 affordable rental units are currently available. Between 1997 and 2001, the number of available units declined 13 percent; there were 1.8 million fewer units that very low-income renters could afford. Affordable Housing The U.S. Departmant of Health & Human Services releases a yearly guideline to gauge an individual or family’s poverty level. No more than 30% of their income can be spent on housing, this is the reason the government has standardized low-income housing rent and utilities not to exceed any more than that 30% of their
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