In the Media

More than 18 million rental units are located in areas exposed to extreme weather hazards, according to the American Rental Housing Report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Rental prices are unaffordable for a record number of Americans, with half of all renters paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities. That's according to a new report from Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies that examined 2022 census data.

“It’s one of the worst years we’ve ever seen,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate at the Harvard center, who added that the level of cost-burdened households in 2022 had not been seen since the Great Recession in 2008, when 10 million Americans lost their homes to foreclosure.

More than 18 million rental units across the U.S. are exposed to climate- and weather-related hazards, according to the latest American Rental Housing Report from Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies. Harvard researchers paired data from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s National Risk Index with the five-year American Community Survey to find out what units are in the areas that are expected to have annual economic loss from environmental hazards such as wildfires, flooding, earthquakes, hurricanes and more.

High mortgage rates, lack of supply and elevated prices of homes have made the dream of owning a house for a lot of first-time buyers out of reach. But some experts suggest that one option that could help ameliorate the challenge of affordability in the housing market—manufactured homes, which cost $129,000 on average.

These homes, which are built and then placed on a lot, cost less to build, according to a recent study from researchers at Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, which could also mean that they'd be cheaper to buy than traditional homes. The researchers point out that building a basic manufactured home could cost 35 percent less than a typical home.

Renters in the Miami metropolitan area are the most cost-burdened in the country, according to a new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, which measured how many people spent at least 30 percent of their household income on housing. The report also found that Florida was the most unaffordable state for renters, followed by Hawaii and Nevada.

“If you go through any sort of life crisis, you’re on the brink of homelessness,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, lead author and senior research associate focused on affordable housing at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

Half of renters in the U.S. spent more than 30% of their income in 2022 on rent and utilities, according to the new America’s Rental Housing report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

A new report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University has found that in 2022, a historic half of U.S. renters were forced to put 30% of their earnings toward rent and utilities. Nearly half of those people were severely cost-burdened, paying more than 50% of their take home pay.

“Rental markets are cooling, but in a lot of places, it doesn’t mean they’re falling. It means they’re growing at a slower pace,” said Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, a senior research associate focused on affordable housing at the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

This follows the national trend: "In 2022, a record-high 22.4 million renter households spent more than 30% of their income on rent and utilities," according to a new study from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.