Not enough low-income rental units

This is one of the more powerful graphs I have made. It shows the amount renters at each income level (in the solid orange) and the amount of units available that are affordable at that income level (gross rent=30% of that income level). The dotted gray line represents the amount of units rented in 2000 the solid gray line shows the amount of units in 2005.

Basically, what it shows is that if everyone lived in housing that was just "affordable" to them (they pay exactly 30% of their gross income on housing), that in 2000 there would have been a shortfall of 12,000 units. Further, it shows that things have gotten worse since then. In 2005, there was a projected shortage of over 17,000 affordable rental units. We know that, actually, things are worse than this, because some higher income people are paying less than 30% of their income on housing, further reducing the availability of rental housing for low income families.

Thanks to the Housing Fund, Inc. for their help in refining this graph with me.