The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes is published annually by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) highlighting the shortage of affordable homes for low-income renters throughout the nation. This year's report discovered a national shortage of 7.1 million affordable and available rental homes for extremely low-income renter households. There are only 35 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households nationwide.
The Gap report also investigates the affordability and availability of rental homes for households of different income levels nationwide and in every state and major metropolitan area. The supply of affordable rental housing for extremely low-income households remains deeply inadequate nationwide and in Maryland. The states with the highest percentages of "Extremely Low-Income Renter Households with Severe Cost Burden" were Nevada (86%), Florida (82%), Texas and Arizona (81%), and Oregon and the District of Columbia (80%).
Some 77% of extremely low-income renters in Maryland are severely housing cost-burdened, spending more than 50% of their income on housing, with little left over for food, healthcare, or other basic necessities. That ranks Maryland ties for 9th with two other states. The Gap report found that there are 196,936 extremely low-income households in Maryland and just 35 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 of these households.
Meanwhile, a new analysis from Realtor.com has found that while new home construction picked up for the first time since 2016 in 2024, the housing gap totaling 3.8 million remains. The company measured the housing supply gap using data on new home construction, household formations and pent-up housing demand. The analysis found that more than 1.6 million homes were completed in 2024, the highest level in nearly 20 years.
