Federal housing aid fails to narrow home-price versus income gap, watchdog finds
A conservative watchdog reports that billions spent by HUD over the past decade did not close the affordability gap between home prices and median incomes in any U.S. state.
A new analysis by the watchdog Open The Books examined a decade of home-price and household-income trends across the United States, creating an "Affordability Gap" metric that measures how much faster prices rose than incomes. The study found that in every state, home values grew faster than median earnings from 2015 through 2024, with 48 states showing double-digit gaps and 17 states exceeding a 50-point disparity. Despite roughly $460 billion in Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) funding across 18 programs during that period, the report identified virtually no correlation between federal dollars and narrower gaps. HUD spokespersons highlighted regulatory rollbacks, fraud recovery and assistance to over a million new homeowners as successes, but the watchdog suggested that addressing zoning rules and local investment is essential to restore the traditional homeownership dream.
Why it matters
Homebuyers see little benefit from federal housing dollars, highlighting the need for local policy changes to improve affordability.
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