Over the weekend The Wall Street Journal reported on some troubling statistics from U.S. Census Bureau data: over 41 million households (or 36.7% of all U.S. households) are spending more than the maximum recommended 30% of income on housing costs.

From WSJ:

“As of 2009 some 41.7 million U.S. households or 36.7% of the total faced housing costs that exceeded 30% of their pretax income — a level typically defined as the threshold of affordability. That’s an increase of 1.5 million from 2007 despite a sharp drop in house prices and policy makers’ extraordinary efforts to bring down mortgage payments.”

Housing affordability is a major priority for Region Forward. In fact one of its targets states that “By 2020 housing and transportation costs in Regional Activity Centers will not exceed 45 percent of area median income.” If we want the region to remain competitive ensuring an adequate supply of affordable housing is a must. Let’s make this target a reality by implementing RF.