Category Archives: Affordable Housing

Living wage and fair market rent

I was talking to someone recently about employment and housing. How do you know the minimum hourly wage that you need to earn and what amount should you expect to pay for rent? Here are some links for Living Wage (the hourly rate that an individual must earn to support themselves or their family, if they are the sole provider and are working full-time) and Fair Market Rent (the amount that is required to rent a modest and standard apartment): Living Wage, Fair Market Rent.

Coincidentally, I just finished re-reading Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America.

Greensboro Housing Authority maintenance budget cut 25%

From Fox8:

The Greensboro Housing Authority has had its maintenance budget cut for the first time in its history.

Congressional budget cuts have taken $1 million out of the budget, which is 25 percent of the entire maintenance budget, said Don House, chief operating officer for the Greensboro Housing Authority.

The cuts come despite a backlog of repairs that will cost $16 million to fix, House said.

Rent will not increase because that is based on renters’ income and not the authority’s budget, House said.

That puts the authority in the tough position of choosing which projects to fund and which ones to put on hold.

>> Continue reading “Public Housing Maintenance Budget Cut 25 Percent in Greensboro(with video)

Greensboro-High Point: Housing out of reach?

From the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “Out of Reach 2010″:

In Greensboro-High Point HMFA [HUD Metro FMR Area], the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $703. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities, without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a household must earn $2,343 monthly or $28,120 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into a Housing Wage of $13.52.

In Greensboro-High Point HMFA, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.25. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 75 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, a household must include 1.9 minimum wage earner(s) working 40 hours per week year-round in order to make the two bedroom FMR affordable.

In Greensboro-High Point HMFA, the estimated mean (average) wage for a renter is $12.29 an hour. In order to afford the FMR for a two-bedroom apartment at this wage, a renter must work 44 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or, working 40 hours per week year-round, a household must include 1.1 worker(s) earning the mean renter wage in order to make the two-bedroom FMR affordable.

Monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments for an individual are $674 in Greensboro-High Point HMFA. If SSI represents an individual’s sole source of income, $202 in monthly rent is affordable, while the FMR for a one-bedroom is $631.

A unit is considered affordable if it costs no more than 30% of the renter’s income.

» keep reading: Greensboro-High Point HMFA on NLIHC