HUD has published its twelfth in the series of worst case housing needs reports. Worst case housing needs (WCN) are experienced by unassisted very low-income renters who either (1) pay more than one-half of their monthly income for rent; or (2) live in severely inadequate conditions, or both. HUD defines “very low-income” as below 50 percent of the local area median income (AMI) and “extremely low-income” as below 30 percent of AMI. This year’s report shows that the number of worst case needs households remained effectively flat, with levels still 18 percent higher than in 2000. Worst case needs remains an equally opportunity problem, with significant incidence across races, family types, geographic regions, and boundaries of cities, suburbs and rural areas. Read More…