Nearly 19 million U.S. households pay over half their income on housing, and hundreds of thousands more have no home at all. Access to decent, affordable housing would provide critical stability for these families, and lower the risk that vulnerable families become homeless. High housing costs leave low-income families with little left over for other important expenses, leading to difficult budget trade-offs. Affordable housing increases the amount that families can put toward other important household needs and savings for the future. Research shows that housing subsidies can reduce the likelihood that a low-income, the at-risk family becomes homeless. A very robust study found that, over a four-year period, families that received housing vouchers were 74 percent less likely to stay in a shelter or on the street than families without a housing subsidy.