Out of Reach
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September 1999 |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, September 9, 1999Contacts:
NLIHC: 202-662-1530
Sheila Crowley, President: x225
Brian Maney, Research Director: x237
Linda Couch, Legislative Director: x242
Winton Pitcoff, Communications Director: x223
Affordable Housing Remains Out of Reach
for Millions of Working AmericansAffordable rental housing is unavailable to millions of working Americans, concludes the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) in Out of Reach, their annual report on income and rental housing costs.
The analysis shows that in no local jurisdiction in the United States can a full time minimum-wage worker afford the fair market rent for a one-bedroom unit in their community. In fact, in 70 metropolitan areas minimum wage workers must work more than 100 hours a week to afford Fair Market Rent in their area. And in nearly every county in the U.S. at least one out of three renters earning the median renter income for their area cannot afford Fair Market Rent.
NLIHC also examined TANF and SSI income assistance, and found they fall far short of providing enough income for rental costs. The basic SSI monthly benefit of $484 leaves a renter with just $21 per month to spend on food, clothing, and other basic necessities. TANF benefits are even less.
In order to afford the Median Fair Market Rent of a two-bedroom rental unit in the U.S., a worker would have to earn a wage of $11.08 per hour, 215% of the current federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. A worker earning minimum wage would have to work the equivalent of 86 hours per week in order to afford the Median Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom rental unit.
In more expensive areas of the country housing is even less affordable to low-wage workers. The wage necessary to afford a two-bedroom unit in San Francisco, CA is $22.44, and at the minimum wage, a household must generate 174 hours of work per week to afford the median rent. In Westchester County, NY those numbers are $20.63 and 160 hours, respectively.
“In the midst of unprecedented economic prosperity, the continuing gap between housing costs and income is unacceptable,” said NLIHC President Sheila Crowley. “The widening distance between the rich and the poor is making life harder for the poor, with rents rising faster than wages, precisely because of the growing economy.”
“The proposed budget Congress is now debating will provide tax cuts to the wealthy, and decrease aid to those who most need housing subsidies,” said Crowley. “At the very least, something must be done to the raise the floor.”
“An increase in the minimum wage is long overdue. The wage rate of ordinary workers should at least assure that they can afford to house themselves and their families. More income supplements that shore up the floor for very low wage workers, such as housing assistance, as well as preserving the housing assistance that we already have, are minimally what we can do.”
The research, led by Cushing N. Dolbeare, veteran housing expert and chair emeritus of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, estimates the affordability of the “fair market rents” (FMRs) established annually by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). FMRs are used for the Section 8 rental housing certificate and voucher programs. They are HUD’s best estimates, based on telephone surveys and other data, of gross rents (including utilities) of “privately owned, decent, safe, and sanitary rental housing of a modest (non-luxury) nature with suitable amenities” of units offered for rent in fiscal year 1999. The calculations assume the generally accepted standard of spending not more than 30% of income on housing costs. This is the first year the report has included data for nonmetro areas of the U.S., thanks to a collaborative effort with the Housing Assistance Council.
The report was released on Thursday, September 9, 1999, at a Capitol Hill press conference. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Andrew Cuomo, Senators Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) and John Kerry (D-MA), Rep. David Bonior (D-MI), and Steve Coyle, CEO of the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust joined NLIHC in releasing the report, and in calling for measures to close the gap between income and housing costs in the U.S.
The report, Out of Reach: The Gap Between Housing Costs and Income of Poor People in the United States, is available from NLIHC at 202-662-1530, and on their website at http://www.nlihc.org/oor99/.
Local contacts are available in major cities around the nation for comments on the report and on affordable housing issues. Contact NLIHC for names and contact information.
Back to Out of Reach Table of Contents.
