Feds Favor Private Over Public Housing Investment, Leaving Millions Out in Cold

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Feds Favor Private Over Public Housing Investment, Leaving Millions Out in Cold

Thursday, 11 June 2015 11:01
By Eleanor J. Bader, Truthout | News Analysis


For a huge swath of the US population, the American Dream - the idea that if you put your nose to the grindstone, you'll eventually be able to buy a small house for yourself and your family - is little more than a fantasy. According to the Center for Housing Policy, since the start of the most recent recession in 2007, the percentage of people paying more than 50 percent of their income for shelter has risen for both renters and owners. The Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD] puts the number of "rent-poor" households at 12 million and notes that there is not a single place in the country where a family with one minimum-wage earner can afford the market rent for a two-bedroom home. Nowhere.

But let's step back and not look at wages just yet. Instead, let's look at fixed incomes. The Social Security Administration website reports that the average monthly retirement check in April 2015 came to $1,287.19; the average survivor's benefit to $1,108.05; and the average disability compensation to $1,016.88. The maximum monthly Supplemental Security Income (SSI) check - this is the program that provides income to disabled, indigent children and disabled adults who have not worked the required 40 quarters to qualify for disability benefits - is $733 per month for an individual and $1,100 a month for a couple, in which both parties are too physically or mentally ill to be employed. Meanwhile, a minimum wage worker, working 40 hours a week at $7.25 an hour, earns a gross salary of $1,247 a month.

Finding a place to live on incomes like these is quite the challenge.

In fact, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reports that workers throughout the country need to work full time and earn at least $19.35 an hour to afford a decent two-bedroom place at current rent levels. RentVine.com breaks it down city-by-city and offers the average monthly rents by locale. Here's a random sample of costs for a typical two bedroom: Birmingham, Alabama, $761; Boston, Massachusetts, $2,144; Flagstaff, Arizona, $953; Greensboro, North Carolina, $673; Honolulu, Hawaii, $1,577; Los Angeles, California, $1,832; Paterson, New Jersey, $1,622; New York, NY, $2,512; Memphis, Tennessee, $811; Savannah, Georgia, $795; and Vancouver, Washington, $852. ...................(more)

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31108-feds-favor-private-over-public-housing-investment-leaving-millions-out-in-cold