Increases in Rent = Increases in Homelessness

If housing is the answer to homelessness, it should go without saying that that housing better be affordable. It's also obvious that for this country's 38 million renters, a full one-third of American households, to stay in their homes during the recession, they're going to need steady jobs with living wages, lowered rent to offset reduced hours or unemployment and federal assistance with back rent and utilities.

Instead, what they're getting is higher rents and lower salaries. According to "Out of Reach 2010," a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the gap is widening between what people are paid and what they need to earn to rent a decent apartment and still have money left over for other expenses.

The national fair market rent is $959, meaning that a family must earn more than $38,000 to afford a simple two-bedroom apartment. Compare that number to the laughably low poverty level of about $22,000 for a family of four. The problem is, jobs are disappearing at the same time as affordable housing units.

The NLIHC housing wage calculator allows anyone to compare wages and rents for rentals in every city and state in the country. If you've got a strong stomach, look up the disparity in your neck of the woods. In no state can someone earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 comfortably rent a two-bedroom apartment. In West Virginia, the state with the lowest "housing wage" (the amount a renter needs to earn to afford a two-bedroom home, assuming they stick to the maxim of spending no more than 30 percent of their income on housing) a person would still need to earn $11.47 per hour; in Hawaii, the state with the highest housing wage, a person must earn $30.96.

Take New York City, where I live. The National Low Income Housing Coalition found that the fair market rent is $1,359. That sounds like a lot. But what does it mean? "In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30 percent of income on housing, a household must earn $4,530 monthly or $54,360 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $26.13."

Well, that's what people need to earn. What about those who earn less? "In New York, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.25. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 144 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, a household must include 3.6 minimum wage earner(s) working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two bedroom FMR affordable." Wow. For a decent apartment, a minimum wage worker must work 144 hours per week. (If he can find work; the city's unemployment rate is 10 percent.) Seeing as there are only 168 hours in a week, I'm going to say that's impossible.

For someone on the average Social Security payment of $761 alone, an apartment would have to cost just $228 a month to be considered "affordable." Good luck finding that, no matter how long you spend on Craigslist.

Photo credit: TheTruthAbout...