According to a report from Freddie Mac, the stock of apartments affordable to very low-income households (those earning less than 50 percent of the area median income) dropped by more than 60 percent between 2010 and 2016. This loss of affordability is not only attributable to expiring subsidies and new luxury development, but to rent increases in units that were once affordable.
North Carolina had one of the largest drops. In 2010, about 10 percent of the state’s rental stock was affordable to very low-income households, but by 2016, this fell to just 0.3 percent. Most of this affordability loss occurred in the Charlotte area. However, the Agency’s State of Housing interactive map shows that unaffordable rents are not just an urban problem; many rural counties, especially in the eastern part of the state, have large percentages of cost-burdened renters.
