Posts Tagged ‘affordable housing’

Paycheck to Paycheck

Tuesday, July 26th, 2011

Paycheck to Paycheck is a free online database presenting 2011 wage information for more than 70 occupations and home prices and rents for more than 200 metropolitan areas. Michigan areas included in the database are Ann Arbor, Battle Creek, Bay City, Detroit, Flint, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Monroe, Saginaw and Warren.

Paycheck to Paycheck utilizes consistent measures of wages and housing costs so you can:

  • See how workers in your metropolitan area are faring in the housing market
  • View the big picture for housing affordability for working families in various occupations across the country
  • Use these analyses as a template to examine wages and housing costs in neighborhoods in your community

In a Paycheck to Paycheck press release issued July 21st, 2011, National Housing Conference President Maureen Friar said “Paycheck to Paycheck shows that job creation is only part of the answer for improving households’ economic prospects. Policies are also needed to ensure that housing is affordable for America’s working families.”

Find the Paycheck to Paycheck database at the bottom of this page.
Read the full press release here.
For more housing affordability data, visit the NLIHC’s Out of Reach database: http://nlihc.org/oor/oor2011

Questions and comments may be directed to:
Blake Warenik
Marketing and Communications Associate
National Housing Conference and Center for Housing Policy
202-466-2121 ext. 240
bwarenik@nhc.org

For more housing affordability data, visit the NLIHC’s Out of Reach database:http://nlihc.org/oor/oor2011/

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Renters Struggle to Afford Housing in Michigan

Friday, May 6th, 2011

[This post is a press release issued by Katie Fritz, Policy and Program Manager at CEDAM.]

Lansing, MI – Working at the $7.40 minimum wage in Michigan, a family must have 1.9 wage earners working full-time – or one full-time earner working 77 hours per week – to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

This is according to a national report, Out of Reach 2011, that was jointly released this week by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, D.C.-based housing policy organization, and the Community Economic Development Association of Michigan (CEDAM). The report provides the Housing Wage and other housing affordability data for every state, metropolitan area, combined non-metropolitan area, and county in the country.

The current Housing Wage for Michigan is $14.32. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn – working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year – to be able to afford the rent and utilities for a safe and modest home in the private housing market. Michigan’s Housing Wage has increased 27% since 2000.

The typical renter in Michigan earns $10.95, which is $3.37 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a modest unit. As a result, an estimated 59% of renters in Michigan do not earn enough to afford a two-bedroom unit at the Fair Market Rent.

“Despite the decline in the housing market, fair market rents have increased in the last decade,” said Jamie Schriner-Hooper, Executive Director of CEDAM. “As we work to rebuild the economy, we need to ensure that low- and moderate-income workers can afford to live in our communities.”

The gap between wages and rent is especially important given Michigan’s high foreclosure rate. “Homeownership is more financially accessible today, but only to those families with good credit,” explained Schriner-Hooper. “After a foreclosure, households need safe, decent, affordable rental housing options while they get back on their feet.”

This year, Michigan is the 30th most expensive state in the nation for renters, more expensive than Ohio and Indiana and similar to Wisconsin. The National Housing Wage is $18.46 in 2011.

Additional Facts about Michigan:

  • From 2005-2009, 25% of Michigan households rented their homes. Today that percentage is expected to be higher due to foreclosures and the tighter credit market.
  • Rent and utilities for a modest two-bedroom apartment cost more than $800 in eight Michigan counties: Grand Traverse, Wayne, Lapeer, St. Clair, Macomb, Oakland, Washtenaw and Livingston. To afford this, minimum-wage earners need to work over 80 hours per week.
  • In the 37 least expensive counties, fair market rent for a 2BR apartment is $595. However, in several of those counties the average renter can only afford half that amount.
  • To find out what your personal housing wage is (how much you need to earn per hour to afford your rent and utilities), visit http://nlihc.org/oor/oor2011/calc.cfm.

For additional information, including data for your area, visit http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2010.

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Posted in Foreclosure, Policy | No Comments »

Rental Housing Remains “Out of Reach” for Many in Michigan

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) this week released current data on rental housing affordability around the country, and the picture is disappointing. Nationally, according to an NLIHC press release, renters must earn $18.44 an hour, or nearly $38,360 a year, to afford a modest two-bedroom rental home. (“Afford,” in most cases, means the renter spends 30% or less of their income on rent.)

In Michigan, the housing wage (how much money a worker must earn to afford a 2-bedroom apartment at fair market rent, or FMR) is $14.34, or $29,832 annually.  A Michigan renter earning the minimum wage of $7.40 needs to work 78 hours a week to afford a two-bedroom FMR apartment, and 58 hours a week to afford even a studio apartment.

The housing wage varies around the state, from $11.31 in many rural counties to $17.04 in Washtenaw County. In every county in Michigan, the housing wage is higher than minimum wage, and often more than twice as much. Those Michiganders living on Supplemental Security Income due to a disability can afford only $202 in rent, and you can imagine the impossibility of finding a decent apartment at that rate.

As we head into the Michigan Conference on Affordable Housing next week, we should keep in mind that even though Michigan has a lot of housing, there is still a large gap between what renters need and what they can afford. CEDAM members are working to address this problem from several angles, including building or preserving quality, affordable housing; helping renters earn more; matching renters with housing in their price range; and helping renters make up the difference in what they can afford and what their rent is. As a state, we need to keep trying to improve housing affordability for ourselves and our neighbors.

Want to see more Out of Reach data? Visit the Michigan Out of Reach page, or search by metropolitan area or county.

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Posted in Policy | No Comments »