In The News - 8/4/2024
The Spokesman Review
Low wages, high rental costs: Affordable housing remains unattainable in WA, report says
If you’re among the over 1 million renters in Washington, you understand how expensive and sometimes unaffordable it has become for many to rent in the state.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition put together a report for the 35th year in a row that outlines and brings attention to the disparity between wages and the cost of rental housing in the U.S. The report is centered around one main statistic, the housing wage.
The housing wage is an estimate of the hourly wage a full-time worker must earn to afford a simple rental home without spending over 30% of their income on housing costs based on the country’s Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Fair Market Rent, or FMR.
“Although most indicators show that the U.S. economy is strong, the lowest-income renters continue to confront significant challenges finding and maintaining access to safe and affordable rental housing. Insufficient wages, rising rents, and an inadequate housing safety net all contribute to the problem,” the NLIHC website states.
The report ranked each state from the highest hourly wage required to afford a two-bedroom rental home to the lowest. According to the report, Washington has the fifth-highest hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom home with an hourly wage of over $40.
Where is a twobedroom home most expensive?The NLIHC report found that people living in 18 out of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico must earn more than $30 per hour to be able to afford a two-bedroom home.
According to the report, these are the five states that require the highest hourly wage:1. California – $47.38 per hour
2. Massachusetts – $44.84 per hour
3. New York – $44.77 per hour
4. Hawaii – $44.60 per hour
5. Washington – $40.32
Why is WA housing expensive?
The report ranked Washington as the state with the fifth-highest wage needed to afford the cost of a two-bedroom home due to the significant difference between the state’s minimum wage and how much renters need to earn to afford the monthly cost of an apartment.
Washington’s minimum wage is $16.28 and the average renter wage is $28.95 while the cost of a two-bedroom home in Washington is $2,097, according to the Fair Market Rent.