Back in 2008 I wrote about Vanderbilt professor Dr. Melissa Snarr's study in the Nashville area that determined an individual would need to earn somewhere in the neighborhood of $10.50/hr as the minimum "living wage" in order to be able to afford the most basic of necessities for survival; shelter, food, and basic living expenses. I chided her a bit back then by asking her to try and live on that wage, but I need to point out here that her purpose was to underscore the bare minimum and provide a reference point when talking about what a living wage should begin to look like for the citizens in our community. Her work and effort was invaluable in raising awareness in the Nashville area and I greatly appreciate her attention and dedication to this critically important issue. Four years later, the National Low Income Housing Coalition has released a disturbing study that sheds light on the declining availability of rental units for everyone, and for those at the bottom of the earnings ladder, is downright frightening. For example, in one "map," states are ranked from most to least expensive; Tennessee is ranked 41 out of 52, which sounds good until you discover that in our state you'd need to earn$12.56/hr to afford the average fair market value (fmv) rent of $949 on a two bedroom apartment. This amount should represent 30% of your total income spent on housing, the typical standard used to determine whether you're even eligible for a unit.
I don't have to tell you that if you're earning $12.56 an hour and paying a grand a month for housing, you're eating beans and ramen and praying you don;t have any 'out of the ordinary" expenses each month. Thankfully, rents are a smidgen cheaper in the Nashville area but the secondary issue here is shrinking availability due to increasing demand for rental units brought on by the housing crisis.
I've shared the conclusions of the report below to provide you with a quick reference, but if you're a renter, you should read this. If you're a renter earning less than $18/hr, this should be in your "top ten" things to read this week. If you earn less than $12/hr, this should be mandatory reading. You can check out the full article here.
When you finish reading, please consider letting your voice be heard by writing a letter to the editor, or donating to the NLIHC. The need is tremendous and it's not going to get better anytime soon. WE will have to force a priority adjustment if we expect to see anything done.
Permanent shelter is a basic human right and the number one priority for every human being. We need to make sure that everyone realizes this.
From "Out of Reach:"
CONCLUSIONS
h is year, as in years past, Out of Reach speaks to a fundamental truth: a mismatch exists
between the cost of living, the availability of rental assistance and the wages people earn
day to day across the country.
With the number of low income renters on the rise, the argument for sustaining
af ordable housing assistance is timely.
• In 2012, a household must earn the equivalent of $37,960 in annual income to af ord
the national average two-bedroom FMR of $949 per month.
18
• Assuming full-time, year-round employment, this translates into a national Housing
Wage of $18.25 in 2012.
• h is year the housing wage exceeds the average renter wage, $14.15, by over four
dollars and is nearly three times the minimum wage.
Despite the great need for af ordable housing units, subsidies for critical af ordable
housing programs continue to face the threat of cuts, as do many social safety net
programs. For FY12, HUD suf ered cuts of $3.7 billion dollars, 9% below FY11 funding
levels. Although HUD estimates that its public housing capital needs are in excess of $25
billion, the Public Housing Capital Fund received 8% lower funding for FY12.
19
h e HOME
program, key to the production of many new af ordable units at the local level, suf ered
a cut of 38% between FY11 and FY12, a cut that is estimated to result in 31,000 fewer
af ordable rental homes. Meanwhile, the National Housing Trust Fund (NHTF), which
Congress authorized in 2008, remains unfunded. h e NHTF would fund the production
and preservation of homes af ordable to the lowest income households. Funding the
NHTF is NLIHC’s top priority.
An af ordable home, providing stability and shelter, is a basic human need. Expanding
the availability of af ordable housing to address the unmet need of so many low income
Americans should be a top public policy priority.
THE NUMBERS IN THIS REPORT
As in past years, Out of Reach 2012 relies on data from HUD, the U.S. Census Bureau,
the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Department of Labor, and the Social Security
Administration to make its case. See Appendix A for a detailed explanation of data sources
and methodologies.
h e FMR on which the Housing Wage is based is HUD’s best estimate of what a household
seeking a modest rental unit in a short amount of time can expect to pay for rent and
utilities in the current market. h us, the FMR is an estimate of what a family moving
today can expect to pay for a modest rental home, not what current renters are paying on
average. See Appendix B for information on how HUD calculates the FMR.
Readers are cautioned against comparing statistics in one edition of Out of Reach with
those in another. In recent years, HUD has changed its methodology for calculating FMRs
and incomes. In 2012, the FMR estimates were developed using American Community
Survey (ACS) data as base rents, rather than data from the Decennial Survey. h e new
methodology is thought to be an improvement on past practices, but it can introduce
more year-to-year variability into the data. For this reason and others (e.g., changes to the
metropolitan area dei nitions), readers should not compare this year’s data to previous
editions of Out of Reach and assume that dif erences rel ect actual market dynamics.
Please consult the appendices and NLIHC research staf for assistance interpreting
changes in the data.
h e data in this report and the additional materials and data can be found online at:
WWW.NLIHC.ORG/OOR/2012
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder