This Worst Case Housing Needs report is the nineteenth in a multi-decade series providing national data and analysis of critical housing problems facing very low-income renters. Renter households with very low incomes who do not receive government housing assistance are defined as having worst case needs for adequate, affordable rental housing if they pay more than one-half of their income for rent, live in severely inadequate conditions, or both. The report finds that in 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, 8.53 million households had worst case housing needs. This is a worsening from the record high of 8.48 million in 2011, and substantially higher than the 5.01 million households with worst case housing needs in 2001.

This Worst Case Needs report largely continues the analysis of its predecessors, allowing for comparison of findings over time. However, a novel element of the 2023 report is its examination of the intersection between worst case needs and housing overcrowding.

Download Appendix A (in Microsoft Excel format) here.

This report is part of the collection of Affordable Housing & Worst Case Needs Reports to Congress.