Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-but by 1985 they were spending 58 percent for housing. Between 1974 and 1985 median rents increased by 11 percent, even after allowing for inflation. Even more disturbing, rents for poor households increased by a startling 30.3 percent.

During the 1970s and 1980s low-income families were squeezed by two extremes. They experienced the deepest income loss of all socioeconomic groups and the greatest increase in housing costs. Although all Americans lost income during the 1970s, poor Americans lost income more quickly than any other group. For example, since 1973 the poorest one-fifth of the population lost approximately 32 percent of its real income compared to a loss of only 1.7 percent for the wealthiest fifth (see Table 1). The increasing disparity between high- and low-income groups persisted even as the economy expanded in the late 1980s. As a consequence, housing affordability for low-income Americans deteriorated more rapidly than for any other group.