Rising housing costs make apartments unaffordable for many - Boston.com

Rising housing costs make apartments unaffordable for many
By Stephen Ohlemacher, Associated Press Writer | December 13, 2005

WASHINGTON --The cost of rental housing has increased faster than wages, making it increasingly difficult for low-income families to afford even modest apartments, according to a report released Tuesday.

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Sign up for: Globe Headlines e-mail | Breaking News Alerts "The disparity between what people earn, and what even modest rental housing costs, grows larger each year," Sheila Crowley, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said in a statement.

In Connecticut, the state with the seventh-most expensive rental housing in the country, a resident must earn $19.30 an hour, or $40,141 a year, to afford a typical two-bedroom apartment without spending more than a third of his or her income on rent, according to the report. That's up from $17.90 a year ago.

Connecticut had a median household income of $56,409 in 2003, the most recent year for which Census data is available. Minimum wage is $7.10; the average statewide fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,004 a month.

"The high cost of housing forces these families to pay 50 percent or more of their income for rent, live in substandard housing, move out of communities in which they grew up, endure long commutes to work, or cycle in and out of homelessness," said Lynne Ide, associate director of the Connecticut Housing Coalition.


Rising housing costs make apartments unaffordable for many - Boston.com