New Report: National Low Income Housing Coalition

Posted by on January 14, 2005

[posted to Tax Roundtable listserv 12/20/2004]

NPR had a sobering report this a.m. about how there is not a single jurisdiction in the country where a person working full time earning the prevailing minimum wage can afford a two bedroom rental home. The report is based on a National Low Income Housing Coaltion study, “Out of Reach 2004.”

Today, the national Housing Wage for a two bedroom unit is $15.37. The median hourly wage in the United States is only about $14.00 and more than a quarter of the population earns less than $10.00 an hour–almost double the minimum wage.

One example is that in DC there are about 9,000 homeless–and approx half are chilren and their mothers.

You can link to the report at http://www.nlihc.org/oor2004/ (click on the Introduction for an overview). The report gives statistics by state and by metro areas (least affordable, states, cities, counties). The site links to NLIHC annual reports going back to 1998.