text: Affordable Housing Linked to Welfare of Children and Youth - Monarch Housing
  by Kate M. Kelly December 20, 2011
  Affordable Housing Linked to Welfare of Children and Youth
  Rent Burden, Housing Subsidies and the
  Well-Being of Children and Youth
  The National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) has released a report, Rent Burden, Housing Subsidies and the Well-Being of Children and Youth , that makes the case for the fact that rent burden, defined as spending more than 30% of household income on rent, is a critical housing problem that affected 75% of low-income households with children in 2009.
  A decreased rent burden can reduce material hardship while also reducing family stress, two key factors contributing to the well-being of children.
  In analyzing American Community Service (ACS) data from 2002 through 2009, the NCCP found that, while rates of rent burden among households with children remained relatively stable from 2002 to 2005, they have been increasing since 2006. In 2009, more than half (54%) of families with children experienced rent burden. That rate is much higher among families earning at or below 50% of their area's median income, with three out of four such low-income families facing rent burden in 2009 (up from 67% in 2002).
  The report also contains national maps that compares the wait time for housing assistance in each of the 50 states. In New Jersey, there is a 25-30 month wait time for public assistance and a wait of over 30 months for Section 8 assistance.