Millions Find Affordable Housing 'Out of Reach'

The National Low Income Housing Coalition has released a report showing that, with few exceptions, most States have cost-of-living rates that far exceed their legal minimum wage rates, leaving affordable housing "out of reach" for many.

1 minute read

December 21, 2004, 6:00 AM PST

By Michael Dudley


"The National Low Income Housing Coalition once again must report that the cost of rental housing in the United States is out of reach of the vast majority of low wage earners and people who are elderly or disabled with public income benefits. The disparity between income and rent for people of modest means is so wide as to be unfathomable to the two-thirds of the U.S. population who are well-housed at costs that are well within their households’ budgets.

For the other one third of the nation, the consequences of ends that do not meet are all too real. They must devise ways of coping that at a minimum mean forgoing all optional or postponeable spending or saving, too often require making impossible choices among necessities, and in the worst case, managing with no home at all."

Thanks to Michael Dudley

Monday, December 20, 2004 in National Low Income Housing Coalition

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