On June 20, 2019 Lauren Favre writes on US News:
There is no county, metro area or state where a worker earning minimum wage for 40 hours per week can afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Suburban wooden row houses line the street Brooklyn, New York City. New York is one of the states with the least affordable housing. (GETTY IMAGES)
AFFORDABLE HOUSING IS out of reach for millions of Americans, a new report finds.
In a national poll commissioned by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, most people said they believe “a safe, decent, affordable place to live should be a national priority.” However, this is not a luxury many Americans share, according to the coalition, an organization that works to assure low-income individuals affordable and decent housing.
“Low wages, wage inequality, racial inequities and a severe shortage of affordable rental homes leave too many vulnerable people unable to afford their housing,” according to the 30th edition of its “Out of Reach” report.The 10 Best States to Find a JobView All 13 Slides
Over the last 30 years, the coalition’s “Out of Reach” reports have documented the extreme gaps between renters’ wages and the cost of rental housing.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates the fair market rent, denoted as FMR in the report, as the amount a family can expect to pay for a “modest” rental property. This greatly differs from the average amount renters are actually paying.
To examine housing affordability, the report used the housing wage, defined as “an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a rental home at HUD’s fair market rent without spending more than 30% of his or her income on housing costs, the accepted standard for affordability.”
While the housing wage varied across the country, the overall results portrayed a dire picture.
The national housing wage for a “modest” two-bedroom rental was $22.96, according to the 2019 report. Based on this number, in order to afford such a property, an individual earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would have to work nearly 127 hours per week, or hold more than three full-time jobs.
“In no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a worker earning the federal or prevailing state minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent by working a standard 40-hour work week,” said the report.
While housing remains largely unaffordable across the country, most of the least-affordable housing exists in states in the Northeast and on the West Coast. Housing is somewhat more affordable in the Midwest, as well as in Southern states. Arkansas and West Virginia have the most affordable housing, at 62 and 65work hours, respectively, per two-bedroom rental.
