Gallup Says 11% Of Americans Lack Affordable Housing

More than 1 in 10 Americans faced times in the past year when they could not afford adequate housing, according to a Gallup Poll which documents how access to affordable housing remains a worldwide problem as countries struggle to emerge from the Great Recession.

People in the U.S. , Europe and Canada, though are in better shape than residents of the former Soviet countries and Sub-Saharan Africa where 31% of adults in each region told Gallup that they did not have enough money to provide adequate  housing for themselves or their families.  In Latin America and the Caribbean the figure is 21% and in Asia it’s 17%.   Pollsters found that 14% of residents of North Africa and the Middle East worried about keeping a roof over their heads along with 8% of residents of Europe and 5% of those living in Canada.

Azerbaijan records the highest percentage (76%) of residents who say they didn’t have enough money for adequate housing of the 128 countries Gallup surveyed in 2009 and 2010. About 4 in 10 residents surveyed in neighboring Georgia (43%) and in Turkmenistan (38%) and Kyrgyzstan (41%) also worried about affordable housing.  This also remains a problem in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Estonia, where 19% say they struggled to afford shelter.

The picture also is bleak in parts of Africa and Asia.  About half or more of adults in Liberia (53%), Chad (51%), and Tanzania (46%) report problems in affording a place to live. Surprisingly, only 19% of residents of Zimbabwe, which has been a disaster economically for years, report that they are dealing with the issue.  This figure has remained little changed  since 2006 and is similar to what pollsters found in South Africa (15%).

Though Singaporeans, at 1%, are the least likely in the world to report housing problems, roughly half of respondents in Cambodia (50%), the Philippines (49%), and Afghanistan (47%) say they’ve faced this situation.  The average remains low throughout the Middle East except for Bahrain, where it hits 46%, though the government there has pledged $1 billion to tackle the problem.

Ironically, despite the glut in homes, the problem of affordable homes has only become worse.  The problem is due to the new draconian lending practices of banks, unemployment and the fear that housing has not stopped dropping.

–Jonathan Berr