About 13 million individuals paid more than half their monthly income for rent, according to a report released today by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The elderly and the disabled are among the most likely to have "worst-case housing needs," with more than 1.2 million elderly households and more than half a million disabled household falling into this category.

The numbers were a slight decrease from 2005, after a 20 percent increase in the number of households falling into this category in the earlier part of the decade.

The "Worst Case Housing Needs" report used census data from 2001 to 2007 to examine the needs of renter households which spent more than half their monthly income on rent, live in substandard housing, or both.

Dr. Raphael Bostic, HUD’s assistant secretary for policy development and research, said the numbers suggest long-term pressures on lower-income households, with only 44 apartments available and affordable for every 100 low-income households included in the survey.

"The production of rental housing has been highly concentrated at the higher-end of the marketplace. So we didn’t see that backfilling of supply that would help ease these stresses," said Bostic.

The survey does not take into account the full effect of the housing crash, which has put further pressure on low-income households.

Bostic said the full impact of the housing crisis on the number of households with "worst case needs" was unclear, because while foreclosures and tight credit markets have left many would-be homeowners still renting, household formation has also decreased as people move in together.

HUD expects to release a new edition of the survey at the end of the year that will update the data through 2009.