By: Editorial Board | The St. Augustine Record
The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently released its 2018 “state of workforce housing” report and it’s no surprise that overall the gap between wages and rental housing is widening.
This editorial is not about the equity of the federal minimum wage laws. Wages are central to the study. But it indicates the gap will not be “fixed” with any realistic minimum wage hike we can foresee. The issue is deeper.
The report is based on what it calls a “Housing Wage.” It’s the hourly wage a full-time worker requires to earn to afford a rental home. The equation is based on the premise that the worker spends no more than 30 percent of his or her income on rent and utilities. Certainly that ratio can be argued, but let’s stick with it for now.
This year, the national two-bedroom apartment wage is $22.10 an hour. A household would need an annual income of a minimum of $46,960 to afford a two-bedroom home at HUD’s average fair-market rent of $1,449 a month. The average wage of renters in the U.S. today is $16.88 or more than $5 less than the calculated Housing Wage.
The bigger picture is the federal minimum wage is nearly $15 less than the Housing Wage, and a full-time minimum wage earner would need to work 122 hours a week for 52 weeks a year to afford that two-bedroom home; or 99 hours a week for a one-bedroom place.
There is no state in the union in which a full-time worker can afford a rental home by working a 40-hour week. The most affordable state is Arkansas, with a Housing Wage of $13.84. Hawaii is at the high end at $36.13.
There are, however, 22 out of 3,000 counties nationwide where it is possible.
The website — nlihc.org — is interactive and breaks the number down by state, county and even ZIP code.
It’s interesting that in more cases than not, St. Johns County’s numbers are better than the statewide average. We have among the highest median home costs in the state as well as imposing residential impact fees. These tend to drive workforce housing to neighboring counties where building is more affordable, and that’s certainly the case here.
Florida is ranked 16th highest for the required Housing Wage. At $8.25 an hour, a full-time worker would need to work 84 hours to afford a one bedroom rental home at fair market value; in St. Johns County its 72 hours.
Florida has 7.4 million households with 2.6 million renters, or 35 percent. In St. Johns County, there are 19,442 rental units out of 81,303 households, or 24 percent.
In Florida, the annual income calculated for a two-bedroom rental is $44,716; $37,880 here. In Florida, it takes 104 full-time work hours to afford two-bedroom rental; 88 here.
The required renter wage statewide is $16.10; $12.76 here. For work hours a week to make a mean renter wage, the stats flip. Statewide its 53 hours; 57 here. And the estimated renter median household income in Florida is $36,166; $45,789 in our county.
The study shows much but solves little. Its conclusion is a call for lawmakers to “increase federal funding for key affordable housing programs like the Housing Choice Vouchers, the national Housing Trust Fund, public housing, and project-based rental assistance.”
What’s new?
Florida, however, is at an advantage over many states in that it has a dedicated source of funding. The Sadowski Act that sets aside doc stamp dollars for affordable housing initiatives — about $314 million in 2018.
The bad news is state lawmakers continue to pilfer this “dedicated” fund by “sweeping” much of it into general fund or other spending areas. Since 2009, of the $2.3 billion raised, only $833 million has ended up supported affordable housing.
We have an advantage, if we can stop the theft of funding established by voters in a 1992 constitutional amendment. It’s easier said than done.
Article last accessed here on September 17, 2018. A print-ready PDF is available here.