America has spent years talking about the housing crisis in terms of supply and price. But for millions of Americans with disabilities, those measures tell only part of the story. In 2023, 3.14 million very-low-income renter households included someone under 62 with a reported disability, according to the U.S.
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Of those households, 1.16 million were experiencing what HUD defines as “worst case housing needs,” meaning they faced severe rent burdens, severely inadequate housing, or both without government housing assistance. The physical supply is just as troubling.
A 2015 HUD analysis using 2011 housing data estimated that roughly 4 percent of homes were livable for people with moderate mobility difficulties, and only a fraction of 1 percent were wheelchair accessible. These numbers should force us to reconsider what we mean when we call housing “affordable.” A home is not truly affordable if a person cannot enter it, navigate it, receive the support they need there, or remain connected to the community around them. I have spent much of my career working with people whose housing needs cannot be reduced to a rent payment and four walls.
As co-founder and CEO of Individual Advocacy Group, I have seen how deeply housing affects every other part of a person's life. For the adults we support, a home is not simply where someone sleeps. It is where they develop routines, build relationships, pursue employment, participate in their communities and exercise autonomy.
That is why I believe our housing conversation is missing something fundamental. But we do not always ask whether the person who needs that housing can actually live there successfully. The national shortage makes the problem harder.
Realtor.com's 2026 Housing Supply Gap Report estimated that the United States was short of approximately 4.03 million homes in 2025. But adding more units alone will not solve the housing problem for people with disabilities if those units remain inaccessible or disconnected from the support systems people depend on. Accessibility is also much broader than a ramp or a wider doorway.
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