The cost of affordable rental housing climbed again in 2006, out-pacing the wages of those who need it most. The national two-bedroom Housing Wage climbed to $16.31 for 2006, up from $15.78 last year. This is the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn in order to afford a two-bedroom home at his or her community’s Fair Market Rent.
The figures were released Dec. 12 by the The National Low Income Housing Coalition’s (NLIHC) annual Out of Reach report, which provides data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country showing how much a household must earn to afford a modest market-rate rental home.
In Oregon, the housing wage for a two-bedroom, fair-market home is $13.46, placing it 26th in the nation.
“Every year it is becoming more difficult for low-income families to find decent homes they can afford,” said NLIHC President Sheila Crowley.
While the national two-bedroom Housing Wage stands at $16.31, in 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, the median hourly wage for all workers was $14 and the estimated average renter wage was $12.64. Minimum-wage earners are unable to afford even a one-bedroom home anywhere in the country, and 88 percent of renters in cities live in areas where the FMR for a two-bedroom rental is not affordable even with two minimum-wage jobs.
Established in 1974, the National Low Income Housing Coalition is a membership organization dedicated solely to ending America’s affordable-housing crisis.
