Nationwide, there are only 28 adequate and affordable housing units for every 100 renter households with incomes at or below 30% of the area median income (AMI), according to new research from the Urban Institute.

Not a single county has enough affordable housing to meet the needs of its extremely low-income (ELI) renters.

The Housing Affordability Gap for Extremely Low-Income Renters in 2013 is the first publication on housing affordability to combine detailed county-level data on ELI renters and the impact on Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) rental assistance, according to the researchers.

As part of the report, the Urban Institute looks at the affordable housing gap in the nation's largest counties. The five counties with the biggest gap for ELI renters are:

  1. Denton County, Texas—Part of the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, Denton has the largest housing gap, with just eight adequate, affordable, and available units per 100 ELI renters;
  2. Gwinnett County, Ga.—Gwinnett County has just nine units per 100 ELI renters;
  3. Cobb County, Ga.—Cobb County also has just nine units per 100 ELI renters;
  4. Orange County, Fla.—Orange County has 10 units per 100 ELI renters; and
  5. Clark County, Nev.—Clark County has 12 units per 100 ELI renters.

On the other end, four of the five counties that have the smallest affordable housing gap are found in Massachusetts:

  1. Suffolk County, Mass.—Among the 100 largest U.S. counties, Suffolk County, which includes Boston, comes closest to meeting the area's need, with 51 adequate, affordable, and available units per 100 ELI renter households;
  2. Norfolk County, Mass.—Norfolk County has 44 units per 100 ELI renter households;
  3. Essex County, Mass.—Essex County also has 44 units per 100 ELI renter households;
  4. District of Columbia—D.C. has 42 units per 100 ELI renter households; and
  5. Worcester County, Mass.—Worcester County also has 42 units per 100 ELI renter households.

To see the affordable housing gap in your county, check out the Urban Institute’s interactive map.

To get an even better picture of the nation's affordable housing crunch, here are a few key findings from the Urban Institute report:

·         Supply is not keeping up with demand—Between 2000 and 2013, the number of ELI renter households increased 38%, from 8.2 million to 11.3 million. At the same time, the supply of adequate, affordable, and available rental homes for these households increased just 7%, from 3 million to 3.2 million;

·         The gap between ELI renter households and suitable units is widening—From 2000 to 2013, the number of adequate, affordable, and available rental units for every 100 ELI renter households nationwide declined from 37 to 28; and

·         Extremely low-income renters increasingly depend on HUD programs—More than 80% of adequate, affordable, and available homes for ELI renter households are HUD-assisted, up from 57% in 2000.