the number of costburdened renters or people who spend more than the recommended 30 of their income on housing each month is at a record high as affordability declines nationwide according to a report from harvard university’s joint center for housing studies published wednesday in 2021 the report said there were a record 216 million costburdened renter households in the us increasing by 12 million from 2019’s prepandemic levels to hit the highest recorded level since 2001 and while the share of costburdened renter households had previously been declining that trend also turned around during the pandemic 49 of renter households were costburdened as of 2021 inching toward the great recessionera peak of 51 in 2011 read more home buyers now need 117100 in annual income to afford a medianpriced home harvard report says the jump in the number of costburdened households during the pandemic was driven by households that would be considered “severely” burdened or those spending more than half of their income on rent some 116 million us households fell into that category in 2021 up by 11 million households from 2019 “with such high housing costs many households with lower incomes may struggle to pay for other necessities like food clothes and healthcare which have become more expensive as inflation has risen” the center said in its annual “state of the nation’s housing” report “in 2021 the median renter and homeowner households with incomes under 30000 had just 380 and 680 per month respectively after paying for housing to cover other necessities the lowest residual incomes in two decades” renters with low incomes and black and hispanic renters are more likely to be costburdened the report said spending too much of one’s income on rent can be disastrous leaving alreadyvulnerable households with little wiggle room for emergencies rentburdened families may be at higher risk for eviction and a 2018 study sponsored by zillow found homelessness increases faster in communities where renters spend 32 or more of their income on housing so far “overall homelessness has remained steady” the joint center for housing studies report said though unsheltered homelessness has worsened yet “the nation continues to face critical housing challenges” the report added “there is a significant housing shortage and affordable housing programs pale in comparison to the need housing insecurity and homelessness are on the rise as pandemicera programs expire the existing housing stock requires investment to meet the needs of an aging population and to address climate change meanwhile racial segregation and inequities persist programs and policies at the federal state and local levels are making incremental progress toward addressing these various challenges but more resources are needed” rents surged to new highs in some big cities earlier in the pandemic fueling inflation though that price growth has since slowed considerably even so many renters are still facing higherthannormal prices when compared to prepandemic levels and may not be able to graduate to homeownership anytime soon due to increasing costs there as well and finding a place to rent may continue to be especially difficult for lowerincome tenants as new housing construction has been targeted at “the high end of the market” the report said even as the number of units affordable to people making very low incomes has declined “the market has lost 39 million units with contract rents below 600 in the last decade and the loss has been accelerating” the report said “this lowrent segment declined by 12 million between 2019 and 2021 alone to 80 million units”