Low-Wage Workers Face Affordable Housing Challenges

An analysis by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, titled Many Full-Time Workers Face Housing Affordability Problems, finds the median full-time wage in low paying occupations is not high enough for a worker to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment. The median annual earnings of a full-time Home Health Aide in San Diego, for example, is $26,000, far lower than the $42,400 needed to afford a one-bedroom apartment without spending more than 30% of income on housing costs. (See this week’s Fact of the Week http://bit.ly/2aGcg3U.) The author identifies wage stagnation among low wage earners and inadequate federal housing assistance as challenges to families in need of stable, secure, and healthy housing. 

Many Full-Time Workers Face Housing Affordability Problems is available at http://bit.ly/2aHf3vY