In 2002, Missouri had an estimated 2,503,187 housing units, of which 2,252,604 were occupied; 70% were owner-occupied. About 69.6% of all units were single-family, detached homes. Utility gas and electricity were the most common energy sources for heating. It was estimated that 74,604 units lacked telephone services, 8,942 lacked complete plumbing facilities, and 10,470 lacked complete kitchen facilities. The average household size was 2.44 people.
In 2002, 28,355 new privately owned units were authorized for construction. The median home value was $102,252. The median monthly cost for mortgage owners was $946. Renters paid a median of $538 per month. During 2002, Missouri received over $73 million in community planning and developments aid from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The Missouri Housing Development Commission of the Department of Economic Development is empowered to make and insure loans to encourage the construction of residential housing for persons of low or moderate income; funds for mortgage financing are provided through the sale of tax-exempt notes and bonds issued by the commission. Construction of multi-unit public housing stagnated during the 1970s. In 1972, municipal authorities ordered the demolition of two apartment buildings in St. Louis's Pruitt-Igoe public housing complex, built 18 years earlier and regarded by many commentators as a classic case of the failure of such high-rise projects to offer a livable environment; the site remained vacant in the early 1980s. Only 5.5% of St. Louis's housing units in 1990 had been built during the 1980s; during the 1970s, many units were abandoned.