According to the State of the Nation’s Housing 2020 Report by the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University, approximately 37.1 million households, about 30% of all American households, were considered “cost burdened” in 2019, which means they spent more than 30% of their income on housing. Approximately 14% of American households spend 50% or more of their income on housing, the report states.

The problem is worse for extremely low-income renters whose household income is below the poverty level, or 30% of area median income. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. has a shortage of seven million affordable rental homes for those households.

Christopher Ptomey, executive director of the Terwilliger Center for Housing at the Urban Land Institute, says there’s a disconnect in the housing market between the higher end of the market and the low end. “The problem is there’s no moderate-income housing for people to move up from lower-cost housing, or to move down from an expensive apartment if their circumstances change. REITs can provide investment into that middle level of housing,” Ptomey says.