A second study has documented the deteriorating plight of low and moderate-income families who can't seem to catch a housing break.

First it was the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., which reported that despite the longest economic boom in history, working-class folk are having an increasingly difficult time affording not just a home of their own but also being able to keep up with rising rents.

And now the Department of Housing and Urban Development says that while the thundering economy has helped cities reverse years of decline, it also has driven up housing costs, worsening the shortage of affordable for-sale and rental properties.

HUD's State of the Cities 2000 found that home prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation and rents have gone up 1.5 times as fast.

But the report goes even further, noting that despite the recovery in cities, land in the suburbs is being consumed at twice the rate of population growth.

Overall, land use for single-family houses has increased an average of 2.3 million acres per year since 1994, the report says. If that pace continues, it adds, the projected nationwide increase of 36 million households in the next 10 years will result in new development equal to the 100 Houston-size cities.

HUD Sec. Andrew Cuomo released the fourth annual State of the Cities report at the U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting in Seattle, where he said it documents the need for initiatives to accelerate the economic recovery of cities and increase the supply of affordable housing.

The report said that of the 1.5 million new high tech jobs created in 114 major metro areas, 600,000 were in the cities. Yet, one in eight cities remains burdened by high unemployment and either significant population loss or high poverty rates.

A total of 67 of the nation's 539 central cities had unemployment rates 50 percent higher than the national rate and had lost more than 5 percent of their population since 1980 or had a poverty rate of 20 percent or higher, it said.

As far as housing in concerned, of the 25 metro areas identified as top high-tech markets, all but four had rent increase greater than the inflation rates. In Denver and the San Francisco Bay areas, rents rose by more than 20 percent between 1995 and 1999. And in Boston, Kansas City, Atlanta, Seattle and Chicago, they grew by more than 15 percent.

The report also identified 5.4 million American families as suffering from "worst case" housing needs, which is defined as living in substandard dwellings or paying more than half their incomes to put a roof over the heads. The need for additional rental assistance, the report said, is an "an historic high."

Published: June 14, 2000

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.