Un-affordable housing

I've yet to delve very far into the affordable housing subject, mostly because I'm not as familiar with it as am with biking, training, fundraising, and other aspects of my trip that I've highlighted thus far on this blog. Well, it's about time I dug a little deeper, and I hope you'll join me. First off, there are a few terms you need to know:

Housing Wage - the hourly wage a full-time worker  (40 hours/week) must earn to be able to afford a 2BR unit at an area's fair market rent. You may have heard the term "living wage", which refers to a wage that is high enough to sustain a "normal" standard of living. A housing wage is kind of like that, only related to affordable housing.

Fair Market Rent - the estimated amount of money a certain property with a certain number of bedrooms in a certain area will go for. FMRs are set by HUD and used to determine amounts for rental vouchers for housing programs like Section 8.

Affordable Housing - housing is considered affordable if a family/individual pays no more than 30% of its annual income on rent and utilities. Those paying more than 30% are considered cost-burdened and may not be able to afford other necessities like food, clothing, medical expenses, transportation, etc.

So I checked out the Out of Reach 2013 report  put out by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and here's what the numbers say for the Missoula metropolitan area where I live:

$738      - FMR for a 2BR apartment (state FMR - $696)
$29,520 - amount a worker would have to make
               per year in Missoula to afford FMR,      
               without spending more than 30% of
               their income on rent
$14.19  - housing wage for Missoula
               (state avg. - $13.39)
$7.80    - minimum wage in Missoula
               (same across the state)
73         - number of hours/week a minimum wage
               earner in Missoula would have to work
               to afford local FMR on a 2BR apartment
$9.01    - average wage for a renter in Missoula
               (state avg. - $10.45)
63         - number of hours/week a mean renter
               wage earner in Missoula would have to
               work to afford FMR on a 2BR apartment
0           - number of counties in Montana or the U.S. where a full-time minimum wage worker
               can afford even a 1BR apartment at the Fair Market Rent

I strongly encourage you to take a look at the report on the state and county where you live. It is very simple and easy to understand, and you can find it here at the Out of Reach 2013 Report. You may be surprised at what you find.

The hardest part for me about these statistics is the faces behind the numbers. I can't help but think of individual families - families who are working their tails of to make ends meet, families who are scraping by from paycheck to paycheck, families who just can't seem to get ahead. To me, this is the real tragedy behind the affordable housing crisis in our country. Not the shocking statistics, but the hard-working individuals and families who simply can't afford a place to live based on the wages they earn and the high price of housing. Thinking about it makes my heart cry out for these families, but it also motivates me even further towards my goal with Bike & Build.

More to come on some solutions to the problem...