December 13, 2005

Local Families Must Earn $11.36 an Hour to Afford a Two-Bedroom Apartment

South Carolina's High Cost of Housing Highlighted in 2005 Housing Affordability Report

For more information contact:
Montez C. Martin, Jr., President (Charleston): 843-722-1942 x11
Robert Thomas, President Elect (Barnwell): 803-259-7636
Cliff Rudd, Board Member (Myrtle Beach): 843-918-1063
Tom Faulkner, Board Member (Greenville): 864-234-0534
Mike Chesser, Board Member (Greenville): 864-770-0704
Michele Murff, Board Member (Columbia): 803-898-7767
Gloria J. Bowden, Executive Director (Columbia): 803-808-2980

Complete South Carolina Report (PDF)

Washington, DC (December 13, 2005) - According to a report released today, based on a housing wage of $11.36 in South Carolina, a family must have 2.2 wage earners working full-time, at minimum wage - or one full-time wage earner working 88 hours per week in order to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.

The report, Out of Reach 2005, was released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, DC-based housing advocacy group. The study calculates the hourly wage a family must earn - working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year - to be able to afford rent and utilities in the private housing market in every state, metropolitan area and county in the country.

This year South Carolina ranked 15th in affordability. The mean renter hourly wage in SC is $9.47 - $ 1.89 less than the hourly wage needed to afford a modest unit.

"It is almost impossible for those individuals who earn the lowest wages to find decent affordable housing," said Montez C. Martin, Jr., President of the Affordable Housing Coalition of South Carolina. "This report clearly illustrates how extreme the need is for affordable housing in our state."

The bottom line is clear. Based on this report, an estimated forty-two percent (42%) of South Carolinians do not earn enough income to afford a two-bedroom unit at the Fair Market Rate.

"That's just too many," said Martin. The General Assembly must take notice and act to reduce this number significantly".

Additional South Carolina facts:

• The lowest hourly wage in South Carolina is $9.25 which is shared by Abbeville, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Cherokee, Chesterfield, Colleton, Darlington, Dillon, Hampton, Lancaster, Lee, Marion, Marlboro, Newberry, Orangeburg, and Union Counties.
   
• An extremely low income household, with an annual income of 30% or less of the Area Median Income ($395 or less monthly), lacks $196 of the FMR for a 2 bedroom apartment.
   
• The Supplemental Security Inc., Recipient with an average income of $174 per month lacks $417 of the FMR for a 2 bedroom apartment.
   
• For additional information, go to www.affordablehousingSC.org

Additional facts and findings from Out of Reach 2005:

• The measured increase in renter housing costs this year over last is corroborated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which reports that American households have experienced an increase of over 13% in the costs of housing-related fuel and utilities in the last year compared to much more modest increases in both contract rents and wages.
   
• The vast majority of American renter families (81%) live in counties where a two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent is unaffordable to a family with two full-time minimum wage earners. Additionally, there is no county in the entire country where a full-time worker earning minimum wage can afford to rent even a one-bedroom apartment.
   
• Securing a full-time job that pays more than the minimum wage is no guarantee of affordable housing: Nine in ten renter households live in counties where the average renter wage - $12.22 nationally - is insufficient to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent.
   
• The ten most expensive states for renters (with their Housing Wages) are:
  Hawaii $22.30
  California $22.09
  Massachusetts $21.88
  New Jersey $20.87
  New York $19.73
  Maryland $19.62
  Connecticut $19.30
  Rhode Island $18.42
  New Hampshire $17.58
  Alaska $17.40
   
• San Francisco is the nation's most expensive city for renters

Background:

The Housing Wage is based on the Fair Market Rent, the Department of Housing and Urban Development's best estimate of what a household seeking a modest rental unit can expect to pay in the local private market for rent and utilities. The report uses the federal affordability standard of spending no more than 30% of income on housing costs.

According to the most recent American Community Survey, over 12 million households earn less than $10,712 a year, the equivalent of what an individual would earn working at the federal minimum wage 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.

The data in Out of Reach 2005 does not take into account the effects Hurricane Katrina and Rita have had on the national rental housing market.