Click for EnlargementThe U.S. entered the 21st century with a booming housing sector characterized by rapidly expanding homeownership, record home sales, strong house price appreciation, and vigorous housing construction. During the 1997-1999 period, more households became homeowners than in any other three-year period in history. Fewer than 5 percent of Americans live in overcrowded homes with incomplete plumbing. The Calvert-Henderson Shelter Indicator reveals that while the great majority of Americans are well-housed, housing-related problems such as affordability and spatially concentrated poverty persist. Inequality is nowhere more evident than in the persistent disparities in shelter across racial and ethnic groups.
Shelter Expert: Patrick A. Simmons
Update on Shelter in the United States
Table 1. Homeownership Rate, 1940-2007
Table 2. Overcrowding, 1940-2005
Table 3. Units Lacking Complete Plumbing Facilities, 1940-2005
Figure 3. Units Lacking Complete Plumbing Facilities, 1940-2005
Table 4. Rental Cost Burdens, All Renters, 1978-2003
Figure 4. Rental Cost Burdens, All Renters, 1978-2003
Figure 5. Rental Cost Burdens, Very Low-Income Renters, 1978-2003
Table 5. Changes in Concentrated Poverty by Region, 100 Largest Metro Areas
Figure 6. High-Poverty Tracts by Location, 1980 and 2000
Figure 7. High-Poverty Tracts by Predominant Race/Ethnicity, 1980 and 2000
Figure 8. African American – White Differences in Housing Conditions