The Real Cost of Housing in 2025

Every year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition releases its Out of Reach report, a sobering snapshot of what it really costs to secure stable housing across the United States. The 2025 report confirms what we see every day: the gap between wages and rent isn’t just growing - it’s unbridgeable for many of our neighbors.

National Map via NHILC

Massachusetts is Falling Behind

Massachusetts now ranks #4 in the nation for highest housing costs. To afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent, a household needs to earn $45.90 an hour, the equivalent of $95,476 per year.

The state’s minimum wage is $15/hour, which means a person would need to work more than three full-time jobs just to keep a roof over their head. This isn’t a matter of budgeting or effort. The housing market has left our lowest-income renters behind.

In Malden and the Greater Boston Area

Here in Malden, the housing wage is even more extreme: more than $50/hour for a modest two-bedroom home. The average renter in this region earns less than $30/hour, which isn’t enough to afford even a one-bedroom unit without becoming severely rent-burdened.

Malden's Housing Cost Map

For unhoused residents in Malden, this means the barriers to reentering housing are almost insurmountable without direct intervention, especially for those navigating trauma, mental illness, addiction, or long-term disconnection from services.

The Risks Ahead

According to the report, proposed federal budget cuts would slash HUD funding by 44%, eliminate rental assistance programs, and consolidate others into block grants with strict time limits. These changes would disproportionately harm cities like Boston, where housing scarcity already fuels the cycle of homelessness.

Programs that offer Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs), wraparound support, and transitional resources are at risk of disappearing by 2026 if new funding isn’t secured. This is not theoretical. It threatens real people in our neighborhoods, including families on fixed incomes, survivors of domestic violence, veterans, and people aging out of foster care.

Why Housing First Still Matters

The report affirms what we know to be true: Housing First works. Yet the executive order signed this July by President Trump actively discourages this model in favor of criminalization and involuntary treatment. That policy shift, combined with looming federal cuts, doubles down on punishment rather than prevention.

By contrast, wraparound care - housing paired with mental health, harm reduction, benefits navigation, and peer support - offers a proven, cost-effective path to stability.

These are not luxuries. They are lifelines.

What Boston Needs Now

• Investment in deeply affordable housing, not just market-rate units

• Municipal alignment with Housing First principles, resisting pressure to criminalize survival

• Protection of wraparound outreach funding, particularly mobile services that meet people where they are

• Partnerships with nonprofits, mutual aid, and public health agencies, not just policing

And most of all, we need political will, especially from local leaders, neighbors, and all of us to reject narratives that say some people are worth less because they are unhoused, or struggling with things beyond their control.

You can read the full Out of Reach 2025 report here.

Ready to take action? Reach out and make an impact!