PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island had the seventh-highest percentage of renters behind on their rent payments in the U.S. and the most in New England at any given time during the last six months of 2021, according to a recent study.
The analysis, done by Stessa, an online publishing company that tracks real estate assets, found that an average of 17.9% of Rhode Island renters fell behind on their payments from July to December of 2021. Nationally, the study found 15.5% of renters were behind on their payments.
The study found percentages increased substantially in the first few months of the pandemic when lockdowns temporarily shuttered many businesses and eliminated millions of jobs. After spiking at 21.4% in July of 2020, percentages dropped as lockdowns eased but rose again with a major wave of cases late in 2020. In 2021, a decline in cases early in the year, the availability of vaccines and overall improvement in the economy kept percentages below 16% for much of the year, according to the report.
In January, Gov. Daniel J. McKee and the R.I. Housing and Mortgage Finance Corp. said RentReliefRI program funds had been distributed to 13,761 renter households across Rhode Island since the program launched in March 2021. The program, funded by the U.S. Treasury, provides financial assistance for up to 18 months to cover past rent and utility bills, current rent and certain other housing expenses.
Stessa researchers also found states with a higher percentage of renters who reported being behind were those with lower household incomes or higher poverty rates. However, some locations with relatively high incomes, such as New York and Rhode Island, also ranked higher due to their higher cost of living. And in those areas, struggles to afford rent fall disproportionately on certain populations, such as renters with children, according to the report.
After Rhode Island, Connecticut had the second-highest percentage of renters behind on their payments in New England at 17.2%, according to the report, followed by Massachusetts (11.8%), Maine (11.5%), New Hampshire (11.2%) and Vermont (8.8%).
Louisiana had the highest rate in the U.S. at 22.1%, followed by South Carolina (22%), New York (22%), Mississippi (21.9%) and Georgia (21.2%), data showed. Utah had the lowest percentage of renters behind on their payments at 6.1%, below Colorado (8.2%), Idaho (8.6%), Vermont (8.8%) and Montana (9.6%).
Data from the U.S. Census Bureau was used in the analysis. To determine the states with the most people behind on rent, researchers at Stessa calculated the percentage of renters who reported being behind on their payments during the second half of 2021.
