Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 13, Chart 1

Indicator 13. Housing Condition of Children

Households with children under 18, by housing status and burden of housing cost: 1975 to 1993

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, American Housing Survey, unpublished data.

Many homeowners and renters found that housing costs rose more rapidly than income between 1975 and 1993. The increasing burden of housing costs was particularly acute for renters with children. In 1993, about 20 percent of renters with children faced housing costs that consumed at least half of their income, up from 12 percent in 1975. Of homeowners with children, about 6 percent had housing costs that consumed half or more of their income.

Moreover, an increasing proportion of families with children are renters rather than homeowners. The number of homeowners with children rose by 4 percent between 1975 and 1993. At the same time, the number of renters with children rose by 32 percent and the number of very low-income renters with children rose by 77 percent. As noted in earlier indicators, an increasing proportion of children are being raised in single- parent households whose incomes are typically much less than those of husband-wife families.