Subsidized Housing & Housing Needs in WI

The Center for Budget & Policy Priorities did a state-by-state report on federally subsidized housing programs and the housing needs in each state.

American Community Survey tells us that there is an estimated 2,246,512 households in the state.  In the report for Wisconsin, we find out that 31% of Wisconsin's households, or 701,295 households, are renters.  This is a percentage that will likely increase as the workforce becomes more mobile, even as many communities fight to keep the population mostly homeowners.

Forty percent of the subsidized units are targeted at persons who are elderly, with  the rest split evenly between households with a person with a disability and family households.

Think about that.  Over 2 million households.  Of which 79,427 households use federally subsidized housing assistance (which doesn't include tax-credits).  A relatively small number, yet such a fuss made over those units in some communities!

Now let's look at the overall number of low-income households who are paying over half of their income toward rent, 166,090 households in Wisconsin.   Remember the rule of thumb is you should be paying about 30% of your income on housing costs, and the report shows us that there are 309,026 households paying more than 30% of their income on housing. 
How many of those households could be paying less if communities had better housing policies?  What are those households sacrificing to stay in those homes? Low-income households who struggle with housing costs are at higher risk of being homeless: 

Point-in-time surveys suggest that at least 6,525 people are homeless in Wisconsin.

But Point-in-Time surveys doesn't count homeless people doubled up or staying with friends & families, so this is likely significantly higher.