WASHINGTON, DC–Studies of this nation's housing stock haveshown, in various ways and from various angles, that we have anaffordability problem. Earlier this year Freddie Mac found that a combination of increasingrents and stagnant household incomes has caused the already-acuteshortfall of affordable rental units to widen considerably over thepast six years. More recently, a report by the Joint Center forHousing Studies of Harvard Universityhttp://www.globest.com/sites/erikamorphy/2017/12/20/rental-homes-demand-is-starting-to-ease/said that the apartment market is settling into a “newnormal” in which nearly 21 million households pay more than 30% oftheir income for rent.

Now comes a report from RENTCafé, which looksat the same issue through a different filter: the strain thatholiday expenditures put on a renter's budget. It has found thatthe average American renting family cannot afford the holidayswithout $549 in savings.