Average Two-bedroom Apartment
Washington, D.C. -- According to a report released yesterday, a family in California needs to earn at least $24.01/hour -- working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year -- to be able to afford rent and utilities in California's housing market. This represents an increase of 44.3% since 2000.
This year, California is the second-most-expensive state in the nation for renters. The typical renter in California earns $16.67, which is $7.34 short of what's needed to afford even a modest apartment.
Working at the minimum wage, a California family would need 3 wage earners working full-time -- or one full-time earner working 120 hours per week -- to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment.
"Throughout the state, we are hearing stories of families who are becoming homeless because their paychecks aren't keeping pace with rental costs. The foreclosure crisis is further increasing pressure on the rental market, because families that were once homeowners are now competing alongside other renters to find an affordable place to live," said Julie Spezia, Executive Director of Housing California. "This report clearly illustrates why we need to build more apartment homes that working families can afford."
About 57% of California renters do not earn enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment in today's housing market.
The report, Out of Reach 2007-2008, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) -- a Washington, D.C.-based housing advocacy group -- and Housing California. The report provides housing expense and wage data for every state, metropolitan area, and county in the country. Nationally, a household needs to earn $17.32 to meet their basic needs for housing.
About Housing California
Housing California is the leading advocate in the state Capitol on affordable-home and budget policy for homeless and low-income people. We are a statewide coalition of more than 1,000 nonprofit developers, homeless-service organizations, and regional and local housing and homeless advocates. Our mission is to prevent homelessness and to increase the supply of decent, safe, accessible and permanently affordable homes for homeless and low-income Californians. For more information, visit www.housingca.org.
For additional information about the National Low Income Housing Coalition's Out of Reach 2007-2008 report, visit www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008/.
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