yup! huge increase in MA sheltered population, especially in this last year. right to shelter has always made the trend in the state look a bit different from the rest of the country - will be interesting to see what the 2025 unsheltered count looks like here.

5. nearly every state is facing a deep affordability crisis. more than a third of renters are burdened by housing costs in every state, and several have rates above 50%. there is no geography of the country that is affordable to lower-income renters.

4. the racial gap in affordability has endured, due to persistent discrimination in education and labor as well as housing markets. more than half of renter households headed by a black or hispanic person are cost burdened.

2. affordability challenges continue to creep up the income scale. middle-income renters have seen the fastest increases in cost burdens. but lower-income renters still have persistently high burden rates and the deepest affordability challenges.

1. a record number of renter households (22.6 million) spend more than 30 percent of their incomes on rent and utilities each month. that includes 12.1 million who spend more than half of their incomes on housing, which is also a record high