SHARE:
Tampa Bay Times Editorial
How to make the rent? Work 108 hours a week.
Florida has an affordable housing crisis. State and local governments need to step up their efforts.
Three jobs to put a roof over your head? A new national study shows how far housing prices are beyond the reach of many working Floridians. It’s an alarming snapshot of the economy that highlights the struggle for low-income families, and it underscores the need for state and local governments to do more to expand access to affordable homes.
A worker making Florida’s minimum hourly wage of $8.46 would have to work 108 hours a week — close to the equivalent of three full-time jobs — to afford a modestly priced two-bedroom apartment in the state, according to a study released this month by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington advocacy group. A report by the Tampa Bay Times’ Christopher O’Donnell found a similar story in the Tampa Bay region, where the $1,133 average rent for a two-bedroom apartment is well beyond the reach of minimum wage and other low-paid workers. A person would need to earn $21.79 an hour — more than $13 above the state’s minimum wage — for that rent to be “affordable.” That figure is based on households spending no more than 30 percent of their income on rent, a threshold recommended by housing advocates to avoid families spiraling into debt.
