We’re Building More Affordable Housing These Days. It’s Still Not Enough

 

“The good news is, affordable units are making up a larger share of the new rental supply.

 

More than 91,000 affordable rental units were completed in the United States in 2024, by far the most in the decade leading up to that point, according to a report from RentCafe using Yardi Matrix data. That peak may prove difficult to sustain — data from 2025 and future projections show a retreat — but the good news is, the number should remain well above prepandemic levels, and affordable and partially affordable units are making up a larger share of the new rental supply.

 

From 2010 through 2024, construction of affordable — that is, income-restricted — housing grew by 73 percent, more than double the pace of market-rate apartments.

 

In 2024, affordable units accounted for nearly 14 percent of newly completed rental stock, up from just 9 percent a decade earlier.

 

Who is it for? Typically, affordable housing is earmarked for people earning up to 80 percent of an area’s median income, as measured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), with rents capped at 30 percent of their household income. In Miami-Dade County, for instance, a single person earning $69,400 per year makes 80 percent of the area’s median income; their monthly rent should not exceed $1,735 to be considered affordable.

 

New state housing laws are helping to drive the surge. They often include tax breaks that offset construction costs, which have skyrocketed since the pandemic. The American Rescue Plan Act, passed in 2021, supplied additional funding to states for affordable-housing projects.

 

The true number of affordable-housing units is likely higher than the one cited in the RentCafe report, which only counted buildings in which every apartment is price capped. Those are typically owned and operated by municipalities or nonprofits that maintain reduced rents in perpetuity. Private developers, by contrast, often must restrict rents on only a portion of units in a building, and only for a limited time period.

 

Unfortunately, the growth of affordable housing has not been enough to prevent shortages or lower rents overall. Seattle and New York City, for example, added the most income-restricted apartments — nearly 15,000 each from 2020 through 2024. Yet average monthly rents remain high, at $2,235 and $4,843, respectively, according to RentCafe.” [1]

 

1. We’re Building More Affordable Housing These Days. It’s Still Not Enough.: Calculator. Echikson, Julia.  New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Apr 16, 2026.