Mayors nationwide warn of worsening housing shortfall

Mayors nationwide are warning of a worsening housing shortfall as decades of “insufficient” investment along with rising costs of housing during the COVID-19 pandemic aided in making housing unaffordable to most Americans, according to a survey.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors poll found that the housing shortage is expanding, with mayors warning that the deficit will increase by more than 2 million units over the next five years. More than half of the mayors surveyed said their city will experience between a 5,000 and 20,000 unit shortfall over the next half a decade.

The cost of housing is dealing a heavy financial blow to households, according to the poll. More than 4 in 10 households, 42 percent, spend more than 30 percent of their income on mortgage payments, rent and other housing costs.

Almost 7 in 8 mayors said that 30 percent or more of the households in their cities are cost-burdened, while a third of those surveyed said more than 50 percent of households in their cities are cost-burdened.

The median rental price has gone up by 18 percent in the last three years to $1,779, the poll found. The median sale price increased by 21 percent over the past three years to $488,272.

Mayors in the survey showed strong support for increasing funding for some housing programs, including Housing Choice Vouchers and the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit. The majority of mayors agreed that flexible and direct funding to cities is necessary to help combat the funding gaps and stimulate supply in those communities.

“Continuing to protect and expand all of these programs (such as through a middle-income housing tax credit and additional renter housing protection programs) is extremely important to meet housing needs,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors surveyed mayors from 120 cities in 43 states, representing nearly 35 million residents.

“It is estimated that the United States has a housing shortage of between 4 to 7 million homes, with 69 percent of Americans very concerned about the rising cost of housing,” U.S. Conference of Mayors CEO Tom Cochran said. “Over 650,000 of our neighbors are homeless, first-time home ownership is at a record low, and U.S. home prices have skyrocketed over 40 percent since 2020.”

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