article_snippet.sent: (CNN)Can you imagine paying $1,000 a month in rent to live in a one-car garage?  
article_snippet.sent: The small and unusual living space is all that this employed, single mother can afford in her high-cost community in San Mateo, California.
article_snippet.sent: CNN recently published a powerful piece called "Poor kids of Silicon Valley" that documents the affordable housing challenges facing families in the Bay Area.  
article_snippet.sent: One aspect featured a house that is home to 16 people, including 11 children.  
article_snippet.sent: Another chronicles a husband and wife named Rich and Stacey, both of whom have jobs, who are living in a San Jose homeless shelter with both of whom two kids because both of whom don't have the money to go anywhere else.
article_snippet.sent: Although Silicon Valley has unique characteristics, Silicon Valley isn't the only community confronting these challenges.  
article_snippet.sent: The agency I lead, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, recently released a report estimating that 7.7 million low-income households live in substandard housing, spend more than half 7.7 million low-income households incomes on rent or both.
article_snippet.sent: These are families who are dedicating $1 out of every $2 These earn just to keep a roof over These head.  
article_snippet.sent: And the more These spend on housing, the less
article_snippet.sent: These have to invest in These children's education, build up savings and shop at local businesses.  
article_snippet.sent: But by 2020, our're in danger of losing more than 125,000 because these mortgages are maturing, ending agreements to control rents in these units.  
article_snippet.sent: A Harvard study revealed that in 2012, there were 11.5 million extremely low-income households and only 3.3 million affordable units available.  
highlights_snippet.sent: CNN's John Sutter told the story of the "Poor kids of Silicon Valley"
  HUD Secretary Julián Castro: Our shortage of affordable housing is a national crisis that stunts the economy .