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A Guide for Using Our Federal Rental Assistance Fact Sheets

Whether you’re a national, state, or local housing advocate or just want to learn more about federal housing programs, our Federal Rental Assistance Fact Sheets can serve many useful purposes. They are ideal for showing who benefits from federal rental assistance; highlighting the unmet need and affordability challenges facing low-income families; understanding national statistics; and making comparisons between states. This guide introduces the information included in our fact sheets and offers examples for different uses.

Look at Rental Assistance Across the United States and in Your State

Federal rental assistance programs enable about 5 million low-income households in the United States to rent modest housing at an affordable cost. Our federal rental assistance fact sheets include demographic information on low-income families receiving, or in need of, federal rental assistance in every state. Using data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Agriculture, and the Census Bureau, these fact sheets contain information on:

  • The types of people and families receiving federal rental assistance
  • Low-income people who need, but do not receive, rental assistance due to limited federal funding
  • Adults and children who are experiencing homelessness
  • Trends in rents and renter incomes since 2001

Using Our Fact Sheets and Data

These fact sheets are designed for educational, fundraising, and research purposes. Please cite the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as your source and provide a link back to the fact sheets.

You can also download the data in our fact sheets in Excel. These data can be used to generate your own calculations or graphics. The Excel file also has some supplemental information on the number of low-income renters paying over 30 percent and over 50 percent of their income on housing and federal funding dollars for each federal rental assistance program.

Possible uses include:

  • Sharing the fact sheets during visits with policymakers
  • Using screenshots for presentations, hand-outs, blogs, or other educational materials
  • Posting facts, figures, graphics, or screenshots on social media
  • Crafting an op-ed or letter to the editor using facts and figures drawn from the fact sheets
  • Creating original analysis or graphics using the data provided in the fact sheets
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Housing