HOUSING AND HOMELESS NEEDS ASSESSMENT - Maryland State Archives

HOUSING AND HOMELESS NEEDS ASSESSMENT

Introduction

This section of the Consolidated Plan has four parts all focusing on the State's estimated housing needs.

The first part discusses the estimate of the significant current needs for housing assistance by income and family status. Information is provided separately for extremely low-income, lowincome, moderate-income, and middle-income families and households by tenure type (renter/owner) and for different family categories (such as large families and single persons). It describes the extent to which cost burden and severe cost burden are being experienced by extremely low-, low-, moderate-, and middle-income renters and owners. It also describes the extent that any racial or ethnic group has disproportionately greater need for housing than any group as a whole.

In the second part of this section of the Consolidated Plan, there is a discussion of the nature and extent of homelessness, broken down between the sheltered and unsheltered homeless. This discussion includes information on sub-populations of the homeless, including severely mentally ill homeless, alcohol/drug addicted homeless, homeless persons who are severely mentally ill and have an alcohol or drug addiction, homeless persons fleeing domestic violence, homeless youth, and homeless persons diagnosed with AIDS and related diseases. This section also includes information on the needs of persons threatened with homelessness.

The third part of this section of the Consolidated Plan is a discussion of the special needs population, including persons who are the frail elderly and the disabled. Frail elderly persons are persons who are 85 or older with functional disabilities related to mobility or personal care. Disabled persons include those with developmental disabilities, physical disabilities, mental illness, alcohol or drug additions, or who are HIV positive or are living with AIDS. The discussion looks at both those who do not require supportive housing, and those who do.

Finally, in the fourth part of this section of the Consolidated Plan, there is a discussion of leadbased paint hazards, including estimates of the number of housing units occupied by lowincome and very low-income families that contain lead paint hazards.

HOUSING NEEDS

The data on housing need in this part of the Consolidated Plan was provided to the State by HUD. The information was developed through special runs of the 2000 census.

It is important to understand when looking at this data that HUD defined housing problems narrowly. HUD data focuses primarily on households with excessive housing costs. Some additional data is provided on housing problem is only that they are living in substandard housing, which includes housing that is overcrowded (more than one person per room) or lacks a complete kitchen or bathroom. However, if a family is, for example, paying both excessive rent and living in overcrowded conditions, their housing problem is only reported as paying excessive rent. The fact that there housing unit is also overcrowded would not be reported. Therefore, when we write "X" percent of low-income households had some sort of housing

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problem, we are referring to the problem as defined by HUD, and not all the housing problems a family may actually be facing. In all likelihood, a significant number of housing units where people are paying excessive rent probably have some other housing related condition too, such as overcrowding or lead paint problems (discussed later on in this section). That information was not captured in this data, even though the units where households are paying excessive costs may also be in need of renovation, such as rehabilitation, weatherization assistance, or other repair.

Also, a note on interpreting the data and information below: The discussion focuses on all households with housing problems, and then breaks the discussion down by renter versus owner. The information on persons paying excessive housing costs for these two groups is important, particularly for families who rent, as those families who rent and pay excessive housing costs are the families most subject to possible homelessness. This is especially true for renters who pay more than 50 percent of their income for rent. For this reason, they are the families that HUD considers to have "worst case housing needs". The numbers are less important for owners, as their excessive "housing costs" (as defined by the census) actually reflect families who are paying not only a first mortgage, but very often tax deductible property taxes, or second mortgages that pay for cars, credit cards, college tuition, etc., as well as utility costs. Mortgage underwriters do not generally provide mortgages that require the payment of more than 28 percent of income, so when the census reports owner-occupied households are paying more than 30 (or 50) percent of their income for "housing costs" what they may really have is a debt problem, not a housing problem. However some of these households may have a legitimate housing problem, which is most likely due to loss of income from changes in their job situation or retirement.

Lastly, the discussion also includes differences in housing problems based on family status as well as between white and black/African-American households. This is done as part of an emphasis on fair housing, to determine if there are substantial differences in housing need based on family makeup or race. (NOTE: DHCD looked at housing needs for other races beside black/African-American as well as people of Hispanic background, but the number of persons of other races/ethnicity in the State's non-entitlement areas is so small that the numbers were not statistically significant.)

Extremely Low-Income Households

An extremely low-income household is a household earning 30 percent of median income or less According to 2000 census, there were about 221,056 extremely low-income households in Maryland. Of these, 37,769 live in the State's non-entitlement jurisdictions. Of these 37,769 households, 69.3 percent had some sort of housing problem. Just over Sixty-seven percent (67.3%) of them paid more than 30 percent of their income for housing, and 47.6% percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for housing.

There was an almost even break between the number of extremely low-income renters and owners in the non-entitlement areas. That is, 18,797 of the households in this group were renters, and 18,972 households lived in owner-occupied housing. For renter occupied households, 68.6 percent of extremely low-income renters had housing problems, with 66.1 percent of them paying more than 30 percent of their income in rent, and 48.1 percent paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent. For owner occupied households, 69.9 percent

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had housing problems, with 68.5 percent paying more than 30 percent of income for housing, and 47.1 percent paying more than 50 percent of income for housing.

Extremely Low-Income Renter Households

Elderly Households: Maryland had about 6,000 extremely low-income elderly renter households in its non-entitlement areas in 2000. This is based on 2000 census materials and HUD's definition of elderly households, which are households which are headed by a person aged 62 or older. Just under 60 percent of the elderly renters earning less than 30 percent of median income had some sort of housing problem. About 59 percent paid more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and 39 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent. As noted above, households paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent are considered to face the greatest risk of homelessness. Therefore, the elderly households paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent would be among those households with worst case needs.

Small Households: Based on the 2000 census Maryland had about 6,100 extremely lowincome small related renter households in the non-entitlement jurisdictions. HUD defines a small family as a household of 2-4 persons. About Seventy-four percent of these households had housing problems, with about 71 percent of these households pay more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and about 52 percent paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent. This 52 percent of small related renter households earning less than 30 percent of median income and paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent would be among those households with worst case needs.

Large Households: Maryland had about 1,286 large related renter households which have extremely low-incomes in the non-entitlement jurisdictions in the year 2000. HUD defines large families as families of 5 or more persons. Eighty-four percent had housing problems in accordance with HUD's data. About Seventy-seven percent of the State's large related households were paying more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and 51 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent. These households paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent would also be among those households with worst case needs.

Other Households: There are about 5,400 "other" extremely low-income renter households in Maryland. "Other" households include non-elderly single person households, and non-family households. About sixty-nine percent of these households had some sort of housing problem. About sixty-six percent of these households were paying more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and 53 percent were paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent. The 65 percent of "other" extremely low-income households earning less than 30 percent of median income and paying more than 50 percent of their income for rent would be the final group having worst case needs.

Extremely-Low-income Homeowners

Elderly Homeowners: There were about 10,831 extremely low-income elderly homeowner households in Maryland's non-entitlement jurisdictions in 2000. Of these households, HUD's data indicates about 66 percent had some sort of housing problem. About 65 percent of these households were paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing costs, and about 37 percent were paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing costs.

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Small Households: There were about 3,972 extremely low-income small homeowner households in Maryland's non-entitlement jurisdictions in 2000. Of these, 76 percent had housing problems. About 75 percent of the households paid more than 30 percent of the income for housing costs, and about 62 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for housing costs.

Large Households; There were about 957 extremely low-income owner-occupied households in Maryland in the year 2000. About 81 percent of them had housing problems, with about 72 percent of them paying more than 30 percent of income for housing costs, and about 59 percent paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing costs.

All Other Owner Households: There were about 3,212 "other" extremely low-income owner households in Maryland's non-entitlement jurisdictions in 2000. About 74 percent of them had housing problems. About Seventy-two percent of these households paid more than 30 percent of their income in rent, and about 59 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for housing costs.

Differences by race among extremely low-income households

An analysis of differences in housing problems by race between extremely low-income white and African-American households generally shows that there is not a great deal of difference in need between renters and owners or by age or family status across the State's non-entitlement jurisdictions. This is illustrated in the table below:

Extremely Low-Income Households ? Housing Problems by Race

RENTERS White Renter Households

Black/African-American Renter

Households

Household Type

Elderly Family Other Total

Elderly Family Other Total

Number of Households

4,687

4,328 4,147 13,162

1,158

2,578

980 4,716

Percent With Housing Problems

57.5

76.1

71.9

68.1

67.0

73.3

61.3 69.3

OWNERS

White Owner Households

Black/African-American Owner

Households

Household Type

Elderly Family Other Total

Elderly Family Other Total

Number of Households

9,338

3,869 2,742 15,949

1,512

828

451 2791

Percent With Housing Problems

66.2

77.3

73.6

70.2

65.4

73.7

70.5 68.7

HUD considers a difference in housing problems by race of more than 10 percent to be significant. In other words, if 40 percent of all white households had housing problems, but 51 percent of black or African-American households had housing problems, then that would be a significant difference in need by race. The one area of significant difference in need by race for

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extremely low-income households would be "other" renters, where white renters have a need more than 10 percent greater than black/African-American households. It is unclear why this difference exists. The difference in need between elderly extremely low income renters is near 10 percent, but does not meet that threshold. (NOTE: HUD data regarding housing need by race did not distinguish between small and large families, nor did it go into detail about housing problems in terms of excessive rent.)

Low-Income Households

Maryland had about 207,310 low-income households in 2000. Low-income households are defined as those households earning more than 30 percent of median income, but less than 50 percent of median income. Of these 207.310 households, about 42,376 lived in Maryland's non-entitlement jurisdictions. About 54 percent of these households have housing problems, with about 51 percent paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing, and about 19 percent paying more than 50 percent of their income for housing.

Very Low-Income Renters

Based on 2000 Census figures, Maryland had about 17,013 low-income renter households in the non-entitlement jurisdictions. HUD estimates 59 percent of these households had some sort of housing problem. About 55 percent of them paid more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and 12 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent. Those households paying more than 50 percent of income for rent would be the households with worse-case needs. Below is a discussion of housing problems by family type for low-income renter households:

Elderly Renters: Of the State's elderly low-income renter households (about 3,856 households in the non-entitlement jurisdictions), HUD estimates 52 percent had housing problems. About 50 percent paid more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and about 16 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent.

Small Related Renter Households: Maryland had about 6,852 small related low-income renter households in the State's non-entitlement jurisdictions in 2000. About 59 percent of them had housing problems. About 56 percent of these households paid more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and about 10 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent.

Large Related Renter Households: Maryland's non-entitlement jurisdictions had about 1,667 large related low-income renter households in 2000. HUD estimates about 64 percent had housing problems. About 48 percent of these households paid more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and about 6 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent.

Other Low-Income Renter Households: There were about 4,638 "other" low-income households in Maryland's non-entitlement jurisdictions in 2000. About 62 two percent have some sort of housing problem. Approximately 60 percent of these households paid more than 30 percent of their income for rent, and about 15 percent paid more than 50 percent of their income for rent.

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