Fresno Bee: Fresno’s poor spend 73 percent of their income on rent. They seek affordable housing

Fresno County needs more than 41,000 affordable rental homes to meet demand and reduce the burden on low-income families, according to a new housing emergency report released Monday. There are a little more than 60,000 very-low-to-extremely-low-income renter households in the county, but fewer than 20,000 available rental homes that are affordable. The report found that those families spend more than half to almost three-quarters of their income on rent, leaving little for food, transportation, health care and other essentials. Throw in a 7 percent increase in homelessness between 2016 and 2017 to make matters worse. The California Housing Partnership, with the help of the Fresno Housing Authority, took a look at how rent increases, combined with the loss of state and federal funding for development and the rise in homelessness, has led to a shortage in affordable housing for low-income families.