Measuring housing stress at small area levels: How much do definitions matter?

Abstract In recent months, there has been enormous interest in housing stress. However, there is no consensus on its definition. Many studies have used the rule that housing stress is defined as spending more than 30 per cent of household income on housing costs – but should this be disposable income or gross income? What are the implications of limiting the definition of housing stress to households in the bottom 40 per cent of the income distribution? How are the results affected if we omit the 10 per cent of the population with the lowest household incomes?