DATELINE: HAMPTON ROADS, VA.
One can argue that young adults who migrate to other cities from our region do so because the gap between housing costs and wages is too wide.
One can argue that young adults who migrate to other cities from our region do so because the gap between housing costs and wages is too wide.
According
to the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, Virginia is the 11th
most expensive state in which to live.
Housing
costs far surpass wages, the non-profit advocacy group said. And the
gap is widening, not just in Virginia, but nationwide.
The
report, “Out of Reach 2016,” measures the gap between wages and
housing costs nationwide. In Virginia, workers need to make at least
$22.44 an hour to afford a two-bedroom home at fair market value.
(Based on households spending 30 percent of their monthly income on
rent.)
The
disparity between wages and housing costs becomes more severe by
region and by cities within Virginia.
A
recent graduate can find a job in Richmond paying $19.21 an hour,
based on the estimated mean wage. Yet he or she would only have to
earn $18.58 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market
value.
Not
so in Norfolk or Virginia Beach.
A
recent graduate would have to earn at least $22.12 an hour to afford
a two-bedroom apartment in either Virginia Beach or Norfolk.
In
Norfolk, the mean wage is is $16.90, a gap of more than $5.00.
It’s
worse in Virginia Beach.
The
mean wage is only $13.29 an hour.
How
do you think that affects recent graduates and young adults who are
graduating from colleges and universities with mountains of debt?
Let’s
apply the numbers to the general population then.
So
what do people do?
Some
work two to three jobs to pay their rent.
Others
might move.
Still
others might apply for subsidized housing, primarily section 8
housing, a federally funded program to pay the difference between a
renter’s income and rent and utilities.
Some
might even qualify for other types of subsidized housing.
There’s
a waiting list in Norfolk and Virginia Beach for section 8 housing.
The figures as to whether demand for vouchers has escalated or
declined since the recession are inconclusive. Whether up or down
isn’t the issue; the issue is that individuals and families need
section 8 to live in a decent home.
Again,
what do people do?
Live
with family, live in hotels or shelters, in the woods or in their
cars.
Focus
on the gap between housing costs and wages. The smaller the gap, the
more affordable the housing; I said more affordable, not necessarily
affordable. The
converse is true: the wider the gap, the less affordable is housing,
forcing individuals and families into a spiral of poverty and
desperation.
Focus
on the pace of housing costs (rising) compared to the pace of wages
(stagnant.) Elected officials, every so often, make bold statements
about affordable housing.
The
statements are bold, but balderdash.
Most
often, the “affordable housing” dialogue turns into an ugly
debate about ideology, politics and the American way.
I
am not suggesting that government intercede in the housing economy;
it already has, by picking up the tab for those of us who can not
afford fair and reasonably priced housing.
What
I am suggesting is that elected officials and city autocrats get off
their collective backsides and get us jobs with wages that exceed or
equal housing costs.
Don’t
give us another Wal-Mart or retailer or grocery store or fast food
restaurant and call that economic development. Don’t give us
customer service jobs.
Get
something substantial and don’t complain or whine that “we have
no land, there’s too much competition from China, students and
young adults need more technical skills and the unemployed need to
relearn new skills.”
The
litany of excuses is inexcusable.
Too
much rhetoric, not enough action.