Back in early 2014, Secretary of HUD Shaun Donovan issued a warning that rocked Washington.



Speaking Tuesday at an event hosted by the Bipartisan Policy Center, Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Shaun Donovan called on members of Congress to pass housing finance reform now because “this might be the only chance we have to get something done in this decade.”

...Donovan said that it was critical to provide affordability across all segments immediately. “This is the worst rental affordability crisis this country has ever known,” he said.

And just like that, Washington sprung into action! They passed legislation and reformed the system. The crisis was averted.

Hah! I kid.

Absolutely nothing was done, and the "worst rental affordability crisis this country has ever known" has gotten much, much worse.



If it feels like the rent keeps going up, you’re not alone: The share of U.S. disposable income that went toward such spending totaled 3.81 percent in the third quarter, marking the highest share in data going back almost six decades.

Rising shelter costs have accounted for most of the inflation in the U.S. during this economic expansion. While part of the rising rental share of spending may result from falling homeownership in recent years, the price index for rental of tenant-occupied nonfarm housing rose 3.7 percent in the year through September, according to data published Monday by the Commerce Department, near the fastest pace seen in the last decade.

So not only the biggest single expense for the working class gotten exponentially worse, it's gotten worse at an increasing rate.

Fortunately the government expanded the available stock of housing for lower-income people and...

Hah! I kid again.

What actually happened is the federal government did nothing but watch while the amount of affordable housing under Obama dramatically shrunk .



The number of apartments deemed affordable for very low-income families across the United States fell by more than 60 percent between 2010 and 2016, according to a new report by Freddie Mac.

“We have a rapidly diminishing supply of affordable housing, with rent growth outstripping income growth in most major metro areas,” said David Brickman, executive vice president and head of Freddie Mac Multifamily. “This doesn’t just reflect a change in the housing stock.”

Rather, he said, affordable housing without a government subsidy is becoming extinct.

Not only are fewer low-income units coming on line, but existing units are migrating out of affordability.



This has left so many people in “worst-case housing needs” that it rivals the very peak of the housing crunch of a decade ago.



HUD released a report to Congress on Aug. 9 entitled Worst Case Housing Needs 2017 which found that 8.3 million households had “worst-case housing needs” in 2015, meaning they are very low-income renters who do not receive government housing assistance and paid more than half their income for rent, lived in severely inadequate conditions, or both.

After a decline in worst-case needs from nearly 8.5 million in 2011 to 7.72 million in 2013, the number of these very poor, unsubsidized renter households increased to 8.3 million in 2015. This latest figure is the second-highest number of households recorded.

HUD Secretary Ben Carson says we should take a free market approach to the problem, ignoring the fact that this is exactly what is happening now and why we are in this situation.



The primary problem is that shelter is viewed as an investment, rather than a necessity.

Thus those with deep-pockets want prices to go forever higher, and they influence tax policy.



For the most recent trend, which began two years ago in September 2015, the trailing twelve month average of median new home sale prices in the U.S. has been escalating at an average rate of $906 per month.

In terms of affordability, the ratio of the trailing twelve month averages of median new home sale prices to median household income in the U.S. is near its all time high of 5.454, which following revisions in the data for new home sale prices, was recorded in July 2017.



As long as house prices skyrocket, so will rents.