NH
Housing Costs are Out of Reach for Renters
NEWS RELEASE
NH Housing Costs are Out of Reach for Renters, New Report Says
April 9, 2008
For Immediate Release
Contact: Maggie Fogarty, NH Economic Justice Project, American
Friends Service Committee, (603) 224-2407
It’s getting even harder to get by in New Hampshire.
In fact, renters in New Hampshire have to earn 16.3% more than
they did in 2007—and 47% more than they did in 2000—just
to pay the rent and utilities on a two-bedroom apartment. This dramatic
increase is the highest for any non-metropolitan area in the country,
according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s latest
report.
According to “Out of Reach 2007-2008,” an annual study
released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a renter
household in New Hampshire needs to bring in $19.45/hour in order
to afford a two-bedroom apartment. Nationally, that number is $17.32/hour
for 2008.
[See the entire report at http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008/ ]
“We certainly haven’t seen wages go up 16% in the
past year, or 47% in the past eight years,” said Maggie Fogarty,
Economic Justice Project Coordinator for the American Friends Service
Committee’s New Hampshire Program. “We’ve seen
food prices soar, fuel prices skyrocket and now this—rents
take another jump. Working families in New Hampshire are suffering;
it’s getting tougher and tougher to make ends meet.”
According to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), the average monthly cost for rent and utilities for a two
bedroom apartment in New Hampshire is $1012. The “Out of Reach
2007-2008” report illustrates that New Hampshire’s “housing
wage”—what a household has to earn to afford rent and
utilities in the area—places the state ninth on the list of
the most expensive places to live in the U.S.
The average wage for renter households in New Hampshire is $13.73/hour,
which means one of several things are happening in renter households,
explained Fogarty.
“Either the household income is going disproportionately
to rent and utilities—as much as 45% or more, well above the
30% threshold used by HUD to determine affordability,”
Fogarty said. “Or the average renter must work 57 hours per
week for 52 weeks a year to make ends meet. Or the household must
include 1.4 workers earning the average renter wage full-time, for
52 weeks a year.”
“All of these scenarios can be extremely stressful and precarious,
and we need to acknowledge that in many cases, these households
are at a much greater risk of homelessness,” explains Fogarty. “Findings
like these make it clear that policy discussions must take seriously
the astonishing gap between full-time wages and the cost of living
in New Hampshire.”
The AFSC-NH has been working for safe, decent affordable housing
throughout the state for the past fifteen years. The Quaker organization
is currently promoting passage of workforce housing legislation
at the state level, an increase in federal housing vouchers, and
the development of a federally-funded housing trust fund. In addition,
the AFSC-NH engages in grassroots community organizing to find solutions
to local housing problems throughout the state.
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