By Ana Swanson
...High hourly wages (click here) are necessary to afford decent housing in
Washington, D.C. ($28.04), California ($26.65), New York ($25.67), New
Jersey ($25.17), Massachusetts ($24.64), and other states.
In
Missouri, where average rents are significantly lower, you'd still need
to earn $14.62 an hour, well above the state's minimum wage of $7.65.
This
data comes from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, an advocacy
group for affordable housing, which has published an extensive report comparing the cost of renting with wages in each state.
The
group defines housing affordability as paying less than 30 percent of
your income to housing, a common standard for the industry, and it
assumes a "fair market rent" as defined by the Department of Housing and
Urban Development....
PDF of report (click here)
From the report:
There is not one state in the U.S. where a minimum wage worker working full time can afford a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent. In 13 states and DC the fair housing wage is over $20.00.
There needs to be a follow up study to better define where exactly the working poor finds shelter. The above graph is from a different study. It is appropriate to place it here.
How does any country expect 20% of it's population to move out of impoverishment? Twenty percent of Americans earn less than three percent of the GDP. That is a lot of people. It is nearly impossible in the USA to raise those people out of hopelessness. To ask twenty percent of Americans to do better is not realistic. This is the USA. The place where immigrants come to find a better life.
The criticism of the poor is no longer political capital. There have to be answers.
PDF of report (click here)
From the report:
There is not one state in the U.S. where a minimum wage worker working full time can afford a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent. In 13 states and DC the fair housing wage is over $20.00.There needs to be a follow up study to better define where exactly the working poor finds shelter. The above graph is from a different study. It is appropriate to place it here.
How does any country expect 20% of it's population to move out of impoverishment? Twenty percent of Americans earn less than three percent of the GDP. That is a lot of people. It is nearly impossible in the USA to raise those people out of hopelessness. To ask twenty percent of Americans to do better is not realistic. This is the USA. The place where immigrants come to find a better life.
The criticism of the poor is no longer political capital. There have to be answers.
