Housing insecurity in the United States long predates the COVID-19 pandemic. Current challenges most recently appeared in the wake of the Great Recession, which lasted from 2007 to 2009, as demand for housing increased while the supply of new housing units plummeted. People were squeezed out of the housing market, adding upward pressure on demand for rental properties. Those with deeper pockets—higher incomes and more wealth—can afford higher rents if they do not buy, leaving lower-income renters to fight over an insufficient pool of available rental housing.
In January 2019, the United States had a shortage of 7 million affordable homes for low-income renters,1 resulting in only 37 affordable rental homes for every 100 low-income renter households.2 Due to these market pressures, the most economically vulnerable suffered the highest housing precarity. As a result, millions of Americans have experienced eviction, homelessness, and housing insecurity, each of which leads to financial insecurity, toxic stress, poor health outcomes,3 poor academic achievement for children,4 food insecurity,5 and other negative outcomes.
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