Study Cites Housing Gap for Low-Wage Workers

Workers earning the federal minimum wage must work the equivalent of nearly three full-time jobs to afford the typical two-bedroom apartment, according to new research.At the going rate of $791 a month for a standard two-bedroom unit, someone earning $5.15 hourly would have to work 118 hours a week to pay his rent, the study by the National Low Income Housing Coalition found. If he worked only 40 hours a week, he would have to make $15.21 an hour to put his family in a two-bedroom rental, the study said. NLIHC president Sheila Crowley called the situation "appalling." She warned that if it isn't corrected, the first step on the ladder to homeownership will no longer exist for the majority, relegating them to a life of substandard housing, living with their parents, or doubling and even tripling up with others who are in the same boat. "Eventually, the number of people who succeed as renters will be so small that the pool of potential homeowners will evaporate," Ms. Crowley said. "There will be two distinct classes of people -- homeowners and everyone else." The now annual "Out of Reach" study found that renters in 66% of the nation's 356 metropolitan statistical areas must earn a "housing wage" of at least twice the prevailing federal minimum.