FYI: The gap between people who need affordable housing and the existing stock has widened, according to a Department of Housing and Urban Development report. HUD is supposed to report to Congress every two years on the nation’s “worst case housing needs”—or the number of renters who earn less than half the median income of their area, don’t get housing assistance and either pay more than half of their income to rent or live in slums. The Bush administration failed to submit the 2001 report until last week, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The 167-page data trove says that, after a ten year climb, the number of “worst case” households finally dropped during the late 90s boom, by 8 percent between 1997 and 1999, but began climbing again between 1999 and 2001. During the 1990s, HUD says, the number of housing units affordable to people with “extremely low incomes”—or less than half the median income–dropped by 19 percent. [1/20/04]