Economy & Policy

Almost $300 billion in housing aid (and only $60 billion of it for renters)

By Justin Fox | November 3, 2009 | +

The CBO has a new “economic and budget issue brief” out on one of our favorite subjects, federal support for housing. The gist: there’s a lot of it.

CBOhousing
From the new CBO issue brief, "An Overview of Federal Support for Housing"

I’ve written about this stuff before, but this time around one factoid especially caught my attention:

The CBO estimated that about $230 billion went to supporting homeownership in 2009, and $60 billion to helping renters.

A little further on, there was this somewhat depressing observation:

Federal housing policy has long aimed to increase the rate of homeownership and, to a lesser extent, make rental housing affordable for low-income families. The nation has made more progress on the former goal than on the latter. Homeownership rates increased steadily throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, peaking in 2004 at just under 68 percent of all households … However, the proportion of households paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing—an amount that is often categorized as unaffordable in light of households’ other needs—increased steadily from 1997 to 2007. The burden of housing’s costs is more pronounced among renters than among owners: In 2007, 45 percent of renters (compared with 30 percent of owners) paid more than 30 percent of their income for housing.

So by turning homeownership subsidies into another middle class entitlement, we’ve actually made housing less affordable for lots of Americans. Brilliant!

Related Topics: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, housing subsidies, Economy & Policy

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  • http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/11/04/secondary-sources-recovery-homeownership-stocks-deficits/ Secondary Sources: Recovery, Homeownership, Stocks, Deficits – Real Time Economics – WSJ

    [...] [...]

  • strawmn

    I don’t know. I’m a renter, and I’ve kept my housing bills well underneath 30% of my income, simply by renting a 1976 mobile home with no insulation and a hole in the side.

    Not only is it affordable housing, but it still has the hitch on the front. I’m six tires away from the freedom of the open road. Jealous much?

  • http://econoblog.info/secondary-sources-recovery-homeownership-stocks-deficits econoblog.info » Secondary Sources: Recovery, Homeownership, Stocks, Deficits

    [...] Government Support for Homeownership: Time’s Justin Fox points to a CBO report on government support for homeownership. From the CBO: “Federal housing policy has long aimed to increase the rate of homeownership and, to a lesser extent, make rental housing affordable for low-income families. The nation has made more progress on the former goal than on the latter. Homeownership rates increased steadily throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, peaking in 2004 at just under 68% of all households … However, the proportion of households paying more than 30% of their income for housing—an amount that is often categorized as unaffordable in light of households’ other needs—increased steadily from 1997 to 2007. The burden of housing’s costs is more pronounced among renters than among owners: In 2007, 45% of renters (compared with 30% of owners) paid more than 30% of their income for housing.” Fox responds: “So by turning homeownership subsidies into another middle class entitlement, we’ve actually made housing less affordable for lots of Americans. Brilliant!” [...]

  • http://www.abnormalreturns.com/2009/11/wednesday-links-one-year-later/ Wednesday links: one year later Abnormal Returns

    [...] The Feds are propping up housing to the tune of $300 billion this year.  (Curious Capitalist) [...]

  • http://www.proinvests.com/housing-market-buoyed-by-300-billion-in-government-aid-cbo/ Housing Market Buoyed By $300 BILLION In Government Aid: CBO | Proinvests.com

    [...] Fox at Time puts it this way: “So by turning homeownership subsidies into another middle class entitlement, we’ve [...]

  • http://lakeshoreanalytics.com/blog/2009/11/06/13-ways-government-helps-housing/ 13 ways government helps housing | Lakeshore Analytics

    [...] Justin Fox points out, not without justification, that only $60 billion of $300 billion goes toward renters. Check out [...]

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