Finding an apartment with reasonable rent is pretty close to hopeless , but its an even more daunting task if you want to live in a neighborhood with good schools, good jobs and other fundamentals.

A new report maps the concentration of affordable units in high-poverty areas in several major cities and examines how the phenomenon, compounded by a legacy of policies that fostered segregation in urban areas , holds residents back. The Center for American Progress released Opportunity Agenda for Renters" Wednesday, highlighting the stumbling blocks in affordable housing and urging policy changes at the local, state and federal level to address it.

To illustrate its point, the liberal think tank looked at how neighborhoods ranked on an opportunity index and overlaid the results on maps of vacant affordable housing units by zip code. They define affordable rent as 30 percent or less of the median income for low- and moderate-income households. The opportunity index factors in poverty, unemployment and high school dropout rates and evaluates access to high-wage jobs, grocery stores and banks.

Their findings -- affordable housing is mostly located in high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhoods -- fell in line with their expectations, but the visualizations make the disparity more obvious, said Sarah Edelman, the centers director of housing policy.

The report authors analyzed three cities with varying populations and housing markets: Los Angeles, Cleveland and Houston.

Heres what the disconnect between neighborhoods with opportunity and affordable housing looks like in Los Angeles: