patrick.net

You can’t afford to live here

WASHINGTON, D.C.
June 13, 2017 7:25am

• New report shows impact of rental costs compared to wages
• California is third-worst in the nation

California: Nice place to visit, but if all you make is the minimum wage, move along, buddy, you can’t afford to live here.
A new report says that in California, the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,608 and to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30 percent of income on housing — a household must earn $5,359 monthly or $64,311 annually. Assuming a 40-hour workweek, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly “housing wage” of $30.92 an hour, says the report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition. For those who might harbor thoughts of living in San Francisco, a minimum hourly wage of $58.04 is needed there. So welcome to the Central Valley, the last part of the California where housing might be considered “affordable” for low-wage workers.
Here are the figures from the National Low Income Housing Coalition for the hourly wages needed to rent a two-bedroom apartment in the metropolitan statistical areas listed. Following the hourly wage is the average monthly rent for that two-bedroom charmer.

• Bakersfield, $16.23 ($844)
• Chico, $17.75 ($923)
• Fresno, $17.06 ($887)
• Hanford-Corcoran, $15.44 ($803)
• Madera, $17.17 ($893)
• Merced, $14.92 ($776)
• Modesto, $18.04 ($938)
• Sacramento, $19.92 ($1,036)
• Stockton, $18.60 ($967)
• Visalia-Porterville, $16.79 ($873)
• Yolo, $22.60, ($1,175)
• Yuba City, $17.04 ($886)

California’s minimum wage is $10.50 an hour. At that rate, a renter needs to work 118 hours a week to afford the rent on the state’s average two-bedroom apartment. Put another way, that’s just under three fulltime jobs. “Across the nation, millions of America’s families are struggling to pay their rent each month. Growing numbers of low-income seniors, people with disabilities, families with children, and other vulnerable people have more month than money,” writes U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota in the preface to the report. “The problem is systemic and is reaching almost epidemic proportions. Rents are soaring in every state and community at that same time when most Americans haven’t seen enough of an increase in their paychecks,” he says.

Talking to the choir here. I was living with my aged father because I am disabled and he needed someone to help him along. Of course the inevitable happened and he ended up in Board and Care at 4500.00 a month. No way in hell could I afford the 2150.00 the apartment was leased at and the idea of hanging on to it after the rent increase,(a nominal 500.00) is laughable. I am in my car and left with the bitter choice of trying to stay close to my father while living on the street or leaving to save myself but abandon an old man with kidney disease. The apartment, a two bed and bath with less 800 square feet is in Martinez, CA just 20 miles from San Francisco. Most of my former neighbors are now confronted with mind numbing costs or simply getting out. A dozen friends have already left the state.
I know property owners will charge what the market will bare. I also know that this is the kind of thing that stirs up hatred and kills people but that simply doesn't seem to matter anymore.