Public Housing

Diminishing Public Housing Stock

The nation’s public housing stock is shrinking and deteriorating. Nearly half of the nationwide public housing stock was built before 1970 and now needs maintenance and rehabilitation. However, federal funding for capital investments in public housing dropped 50% between 2000 and 2015, generating a $26 billion backlog of capital repairs. Inadequate funding has led to the steady loss of public housing units: approximately 300,000 units—more than 20% of the total public housing stock—have been demolished over the past 20 years.