Sunday, December 18, 2005

But At Least The Mini-Storage Facilities Are Comfy

From an article about housing cost and availability:

Virtually no housing for low-wage earners
This year, for the first time in the 16 years the [National Low Income Housing Coalition] has determined that there is no place in the country where a full-time worker earning minimum wage can afford to rent even a one-bedroom apartment at fair market rent.

The report shows that this year's national housing wage - the hourly wage a full-time worker needs to earn in order to cover the rent with no more than 30 percent of his or her income - is $15.78 an hour. That's up from $15.37 an hour in 2004 and is more than three times the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.

The communications director for Housing California, a leading statewide housing advocacy group, said the vast majority of housing being built in the Sacramento region is for purchase, not for rent. While classified sections fill with "for sale" ads, Bender said, some 38 percent of the region's residents need to rent. Many of them can't find any place they can afford. The market is penalizing hairdressers and grocery clerks and garbage collectors who don't make enough to buy, Bender said.

The housing wage computed by the National Low Income Housing Coalition is the hourly wage a full-time worker needs to earn in order to cover the rent with no more than 30 percent of his or her income. To use the rent/wage calculator, go here.

5 comments:

Kevin Mark Smith said...

Good plan. Let's push to make housing more affordable for those earning minimum wage instead of helping them learn skills that will vaccinate them from the minimum wage, whatever that may be.

SheaNC said...

Kevin, your "let them eat cake" vision unrealistic. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that you would support a training program for minimum wage earners to give them skills to improve their earning power. Where are those people supposed to live while they are being trained? Taxpayer-supported dormitories? Section 8 housing projects? Your house?

The truth is, these folks don't need an "incentive" to earn more money. They already want to earn more money and they would if they could. But while one is earning minimum wage, it is certainly not unreasonable to expect one to be able to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment, in a reasonable state of repair, and reasonably safe. From these dwellings they may venture forth to provide goods and services to improve your life, bolster the economy, and providing streams of tax-free income to the corporate fatcats who refuse to pay them a living wage.

I'd be interested in hearing your plan for a job-skills training program 8^)

Mike of the North said...

Hey I got an idea! After we train all these minimum wage earners so's they can get better jobs and houses, we can open up the borders and let people in that are used to living in cardboard shacks. If we keep 'em illegal they won't dare complain about low wages.

It's a win win situation, we get to keep our cheepshit chinese crapola from walmart, artery clogging crapburgers from WankDonalds and our glorious ceo's get to keep their grotesequely over inflated salaries, severance packages and stock options.

Rock on amerikan kapitalism!!! Fuck the doomed!!

Mike of the North said...

oops.. misspelled grotesquely. Oh if only I had been given the opportunity to have been educated in geeboy's NCLB educational world!

Ken Grandlund said...

Just another example of how the American people are not being represented by their peers in government. Those elected are largely wealthy and have no concept of being poor and what it is like.