Options for Addressing Rent Burdens Through the Tax Code: Considerations for Designing a Renter’s Tax Credit

The number of cost-burdened renters has hit an all-time high.  The issue is particularly acute for low-income households: for renters earning less $30,000, more than three-fourths– 83 percent–are cost burdened, leaving them an average of $170 per month for all other expenses.  

The large scale of unmet renter needs has led policymakers, researchers, and practitioners across the country to explore additional approaches to help renters.  One promising solution is a renter’s tax credit.  In a new report published in collaboration with Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, we lay out options for how a new renter’s tax credit could be designed.  The report shows how different design decisions–such as whether the credit is universal or targeted, refundable or non-refundable, or pegged to income or housing cost burden–will influence both the costs and who benefits, and where possible, illustrates the different effects of these decisions for renter households in California.  

Read the full report here. 

The Terner Center will also host a webinar covering the report’s findings on Tuesday, September 24, at 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. PT. Registration information is available here. 

Authors:

Sara Kimberlin, Executive Director and Senior Research Scholar at the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality

Elizabeth Kneebone, former Research Director at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation. Elizabeth transitioned roles prior to publication.