'Doom and Gloom' Not As Gloomy

Fewer American households are facing a "doom and gloom scenario" when it comes to housing, but their numbers are still gloomy enough.

In 2013, there were 7.7 million poor families who either lived in substandard housing, spent more than half their income on rent, or both, according to HUD.

That's actually an improvement compared to 2011. At that time, nearly 9 million households were dealing with a major financial crisis-an all-time high. But it's still worse than pre-2007, when anywhere from 5 million to 6 million families met that classification in a normal year.

HUD is using the report currently to make a case for restoring almost 70,000 housing vouchers that were cut due to the sequestration process in 2013.

Let me hear your opinion on Section 8 housing vouchers. We at Silver Stream Advisors have heard both ends of the isle on this topic and in full disclosure, many of our rental properties are tenanted by section 8 recipients.

What say ye?