ABSTRACT
The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) analysis used a proposed 40th percentile of the cost of available housing as the basis for setting the fair market rent ceiling, whereas National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials used the 45th percentile. This shift by HUD had the effect of lowering the cost to the federal government and also reducing the availability of rent certificates for lower-income worker families. The chapter addresses the dynamics of change in local housing markets. In 1991, a total of 1.7 million unsubsidized households with incomes 50 percent of the area median or below lived in inadequate housing. A number of HUD assisted housing policies run counter to the goal of achieving sound and livable housing developments. HUD has a prime statutory mission to improve the supply and condition of housing, particularly lower-income housing, in conjunction with its programs to revitalize neighborhoods and communities.
