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Housing is Still Out of Reach for Many in Illinois
Monday, April 07, 2008
Housing Wage is $16.23 for Two-Bedroom Apartment in Illinois
According to a report released today, the Housing Wage for Illinois is $16.23 for a two-bedroom apartment. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn—working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year—to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment renting for $844. The Housing Wage has increased 25.3% since 2000.
The report, Out of Reach 2007-2008, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, DC-based housing advocacy group, and Housing Action Illinois.
Federal guidelines state that no one should spend more than 30% of their income on housing,including rent or mortgage payments, utilities, property taxes and insurance.
“As rents continue to rise across the state, Illinois workers are spending more and more of their income on their housing and have less money for food, clothing, transportation and other basic needs,” said Mimi Chedid, Policy Coordinator for Housing Action Illinois. “The persistent shortage of affordable rental housing combined with the current economic slowdown—largely caused by the mortgages foreclosure crisis—threatens the economic security of Illinois families.”
In Illinois, among metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, the lowest Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $10.15 in the metro-east Bond County metropolitan area. The highest housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $18.15 in the Chicago metropolitan area.
In Illinois, a minimum wage worker earns an hourly wage of $7.50. In order to afford market rate rents for a two-bedroom apartment, a minimum wage earner must work 87 hours per week, 52 weeks per year. Or a household must include 2.2 minimum wage earners working 40 hours per week year-round in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment.
Housing Action Illinois’ mission is to increase and preserve the supply of decent, affordable, accessible housing in Illinois for low-and moderate-income households through advocacy, public education, and technical assistance to nonprofits.
Data for every state, metropolitan area and county in the country is available online, at www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2008.
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