How many subsidized housing units are available in North Dakota?

Data updated August 27, 2024
About 14,268 subsidized housing units in North Dakota in 2023. Approximately 25% of these were unoccupied and available to rent. Federally subsidized rental housing began with 1937’s US Housing Act, which created the United States Housing Authority and provided financial assistance to state and local governments for housing low-income people. Since then, the government has provided housing assistance to low-income renters through programs overseen by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Showing data for
In 2023

14.3K

subsidized housing units existed in North Dakota
In 2023

3.6K

subsidized housing units were unoccupied and available to rent
In 2023

25%

of all subsidized housing units were available to rent
There were about 9,917 occupied subsidized housing units in 2022, and around 115,687 occupied rental units — subsidized and unsubsidized — in North Dakota. That means 8.6% of all occupied rentals in North Dakota were provided by housing assistance programs. In 2022, 30% of all subsidized units in North Dakota were vacant, compared with 9.4% of all rental properties.
The number of available subsidized housing units varies throughout North Dakota. Administered by local public housing authorities (PHAs), availability is shaped by local policy and factors like geography (e.g., urban vs. rural vs. suburban), need, and more.

In 2023, Stutsman County had the most subsidized housing units per 10K people.

Subsidized housing can take different forms — from high-rise buildings to garden-style apartments to single-family dwellings, duplexes, and more — but all are accessed via eight different housing assistance programs under HUD. These are classified as either public housing; tenant-based programs; or privately-owned, project-based housing.

Subscribe to get unbiased, data-driven insights sent to your inbox weekly.


Tenant-based programs — known today as the Housing Choice Voucher program — are the most common form of housing assistance, providing 2,752,351 housing units in 2023. Housing vouchers allow recipients to choose their own housing in the private market, provided it meets program requirements. These account for 53.7% of the subsidized housing stock. In North Dakota, tenant-based programs account for 69.4% of the subsidized housing stock, making them more common than in the US overall.

Tenant assistance was the most common type of housing program in 2023.

Privately-owned, project-based programs provide subsidized housing in larger, multifamily housing developments through agreements between landlords and HUD, and account for 21.39% of all subsidized housing.
The remainder of subsidized units — 9.22% of the total — are public housing, where units are built and managed by local housing agencies.

Change location to see this data for other areas