ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the impact of rising energy prices on the costs and quality of rental housing. It shows that the rapid escalation of costs in the private and public sectors are similar. The chapter presents evidence regarding the condition of housing in the lower and non-lower income segments of the rental market, which is almost entirely confined to the private sector, to show that there is a crisis in the lower income housing market. Data on energy prices and operating costs of private sector rental housing are not plentiful or systematic. In order to estimate the role of energy prices in the private sector rental market, we must make two important estimates of which the reader should be aware—the choice of a formula for operating ratios to derive operating costs from contract rents, and the estimate of energy costs as a percent of operating costs.
