Housing Facts

Know and use these facts about housing.

• In Ohio during year 2000, a one bedroom apartment cost a person with a disability almost 85 percent of his or her Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
• Average monthly rent is increasing twice as fast as monthly SSI.
• About 200,000 persons with disabilities are homeless; living in shelters or on the street.
• About 1,500,000 persons with disabilities are not served by any Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or other housing program — three times the number who are served by HUD programs.
• Ohio's "Housing Wage," the wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a two bedroom apartment, is $11.37 — more than twice the $5.15 minimum wage.
• For every 100 low income households, there are only 40 rental units which are both affordable and available to them.
• Federal funding for affordable housing has decreased by more than 75 percent since the mid-1980s.
• About 1,400,000 persons with disabilities spend over half their incomes on housing. The government says they have the "worst case housing needs."
• The number of persons with "worst case housing needs" is going down for every group served by HUD — except for persons with disabilities.
• The shortage of accessible housing is so severe, that persons with disabilities are losing their housing subsidy because they cannot find accessible housing. For example, people can lose their Section 8 housing vouchers if they do not find housing within a specific time period.
• About 80 percent of Section 8 contracts between property owners and HUD will expire from 2000 to 2004. After their contacts expire, the owners can offer their properties in the open market, at rents no longer affordable to Section 8 voucher holders.

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