RI rents still out of reach

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island continues to have one of the highest rental costs in the nation, according to a report released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition on Monday.

The report, “Out of Reach 2011,” said that Rhode Island placed at No. 14 for the highest rental costs and regional counterparts Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire also placed in the top 15 for unaffordability.

Nationally, Hawaii had the highest costs while Puerto Rico had the lowest.

In Rhode Island, the “fair market rent” for a two-bedroom apartment was $996, up from last year’s FMR of $983. In order to afford such an apartment and utilities, without spending more than 30 percent of income on housing, a local household must earn $39,853 annually, the report calculated.

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The estimated mean wage for a renter is $11.25, the advocacy group said noting that a renter must work 68 hours per week, 52 week per year, in order to afford the FMR for a two bedroom in Rhode Island. Or, in order to work 40 hours per week, the household must have 1.7 workers earning the mean renter wage.

When looking at Rhode Islanders that earn minimum wage, $7.40 per hour, they must work 104 hours per week or have 2.6 workers in the household.

“In this environment, more than ever, “Out of Reach” underscores the fundamental mismatch between the wages people earn and the price of decent housing within our communities,” the report said.

“The recession has indeed caused greater housing hardship, but in fact, the failure of this country’s housing system to produce sufficient affordable housing is itself at the root of the crisis,” it said.

The “housing wage” or the hourly wage necessary to afford a two-bedroom FMR was $19.16 in Rhode Island, up 68 percent since 2000. For the state’s metropolitan areas, it was: $23.85 in Newport-Middletown-Portsmouth; $18.79 in Providence-Fall River; and $19.71 in Westerly-Hopkinton-New Shoreham.

The full report is available here.

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