Disability Resources: Housing Facts and Statistics

Our goal is to support our community in every way possible, including providing you with the resources and information you may be looking for. We’ve pulled together some statistics about the housing market opportunities for peoples with disabilities in an effort to keep your life moving in all facets. In addition to offering resources, we want to promote awareness about accessibility and encourage continued growth toward a more wheelchair friendly environment no matter what market you are looking into.

Across the country, people with disabilities face challenges finding affordable and accessible housing on low incomes. Often, remodeling and ramp construction is necessary to make homes accessible, and these reconstruction projects come at a cost. When you are on Supplemental Security Income and living without a stable salary, facing the housing market is challenging to say the least.

• • • People with disabilities who rely on SSI as their sole source of income continue to be the nation’s poorest citizens. In 2008, the annual income of a single individual receiving SSI payments was $8,016—equal to only 18.6 percent of the national median income for a one-person household and almost 30 percent below the 2008 federal poverty level of $10,400.
    • In 2008, as a national average, a person receiving SSI needed to pay 112.1 percent of their monthly income to rent a modest one-bedroom unit. People with disabilities were also priced out of smaller studio/efficiency units which averaged 99.3 percent of monthly SSI.
    • Since 1998, the amount of monthly SSI income needed to rent a modest one-bedroom unit has risen an astonishing 62 percent—from 69 percent of SSI in 1998 to 112.1 percent of SSI in 2008.
    • In 2008, 219 housing market areas across 41 states had modest one-bedroom rents that exceeded 100 percent of monthly SSI, including 25 communities with rents over 150 percent. Between 2006-2008, the number of market areas with modest rents higher than SSI rose from 164 to 219—a 34 percent increase. For the first time, there were 3 housing market areas—Honolulu (HI), Columbia City (MD), and Nantucket County (MA)—where SSI recipients needed to spend over 200 percent of their income for a modest 1- bedroom housing unit—not only an impossibility, but absurd.
    • Since 1998, the value of SSI payments compared to median income has declined precipitously—from 24.4 percent of median income in 1998 to 18.6 percent in 2008—while national average rents have skyrocketed. The national average rent for a modest one-bedroom unit rose from $462 in 1998 to $749 in 2008 —an increase of 62 percent.

We hear you. We know the housing market is tough, so we want to provide you with affordable mobility solutions that save you money and give you the freedom you deserve. What resources are you in need of? Is there anything specific you want information on?