vermont affordable housing coalition

• 275 Northgate Road • Burlington, VT 05408 • (802) 660-9484 • www.vtaffordablehousing.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 8, 2017 CONTACT: Erhard Mahnke, 802.233.2902, erhardm@vtaffordablehousing.org Luke Dodge, 802.660.9484, luke.vahc@gmail.com

Affordable Housing Is Out of Reach for Low-Wage Vermonters The Average Vermont Renter Can’t Afford a Modest 2-Bedroom Apartment

BURLINGTON, VT – In order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at the Fair Market Rent in Vermont, renters need to earn $21.90 an hour, or $45,545 a year. This is Vermont’s 2017 Housing Wage, revealed in the annual Out of Reach report released today by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington, DC-based research and advocacy organization, and the Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition. At Vermont’s current minimum wage, individuals would need to work 88 hours per week, or 2.2 full-time jobs, to afford a two-bedroom rental home. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn, working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, to be able to afford the rent and utilities for a safe and modest home in the private housing market (affordable means paying no more than 30% of income). Every year, Out of Reach reports on the Housing Wage for all states, counties, and metropolitan areas in the country. The report highlights the gap between what renters earn and what it costs to afford rent at fair market value. With an estimated mean renter wage of $12.51 an hour, average Vermont renters are left $9.39 an hour short of what they need to earn to afford a decent place to live. They can afford just $650 a month for their housing costs while the average statewide Fair Market Rent for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,139. Vermont has the 5th largest affordability gap for renters of any state in the nation. Vermont has nearly 75,000 renter households. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Vice Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said: “With 27 percent of Vermonters living in liquid asset poverty, I often hear from Vermonters who are struggling just to make ends meet. I am proud that Vermont’s affordable housing leaders are some of the best in the nation. For years they have built a system to help ensure that families do not fall through the cracks. While Vermont continues to make strides since the Great Recession, resources like the NLIHC Out of Reach Report remain key tools to ensure that policymakers, service providers and community partners have the information they need to help every family succeed.” Even though Vermont’s minimum wage has increased annually for the last several years, it is not enough to pay for decent housing: 2.2 full-time jobs at minimum wage – or 88 work hours a week – are needed to afford the average two-bedroom apartment. A full-time minimum wage worker in Vermont can only afford $520 a month for rent and utilities, leaving a gap of $619. While some might consider this is an unfair comparison because they think most minimum wage workers are high school students, this is not the reality. According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average age of a minimum wage worker is 35 years old, and 88% are at least 20 years old. Half are older than 30, and about a third are at least 40.

“It is no secret that – because of an economy that is rigged for the benefit of the very rich – wages for most working families have been stagnant for several decades,” said Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee. “Millions of Americans are struggling to get by, working longer hours at lower wages, while the cost of housing keeps going up. Here in Vermont, far too many households pay more than 50 percent of their limited incomes to keep a roof over their heads, leaving little for other necessities like food, clothing, heat and medicine. As a country, we must reorder our national priorities, and that includes investing more in decent and permanently affordable housing for working families."

Unfortunately, federal funding levels for housing, rental assistance and supportive services are far below what they were five or six years ago. Key federal programs like HOME, Section 8 Vouchers, and Community Development Block Grants have been underfunded for years, and are now under serious threat in the Trump Administration’s recent budget proposal.

“Today’s report shows how far we still have to go to put affordable housing in reach for all of Vermont’s families,” said Congressman Peter Welch (D-VT). “The numbers make it very clear that the President’s budget proposal to drastically slash funding for affordable housing programs and services is a step in the wrong direction. This is an area that is in need of significantly more resources for the most vulnerable Vermonters, not less.” The state of Vermont suffers from chronic budget shortfalls and has been unable to make the necessary increases to such key housing safety net programs as the Vermont Rental Subsidy Program, which helps close the affordability gap for low-income Vermonters. The $35 million housing bond included in the FY 18 State budget to help fund the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board is certainly an essential step in the right direction towards providing more affordable housing for Vermonters. The Coalition hopes that the current impasse between the Governor and lawmakers can be resolved soon so that critical new housing can be built.

Additional findings from Out of Reach:

The national Housing Wage is $21.21 in 2017.

Vermont is the seventh most expensive state for rural (non-metro) areas.

Vermont is the 13th most expensive state in the nation for renters.

The Housing Wage in the greater metropolitan area of Burlington is $26.83, almost $5.00 an hour higher than the state average.

Someone with a disability living on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) can only afford $236 a month, leaving them $903 short for a two-bedroom, and $665 short for a one-bedroom apartment.

For additional Vermont information, visit: http://bit.ly/2r68TOP. For additional national information, visit: http://www.nlihc.org/oor/.

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The Vermont Affordable Housing Coalition is a statewide membership organization dedicated to ensuring that all Vermonters have decent, safe and affordable housing, particularly the state’s low and

moderate-income residents, elders, people living with homelessness, and people with disabilities. For more information, visit www.vtaffordablehousing.org.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that assures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.

For more information, visit www.nlihc.org.

OUT OF REACH 2017 | NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION VT–1

STATERANKINGVERMONT #13*

FACTS ABOUT VERMONT:STATE FACTS

Minimum Wage $10.00

Average Renter Wage $12.51

2-Bedroom Housing Wage $21.90

Number of Renter Households 74,137

Percent Renters 29%

MOST EXPENSIVE AREAS HOUSING WAGE

Burlington-South Burlington MSA $26.83

Windsor County $20.33

Windham County $19.90

Washington County $19.87

Addison County $19.52

* Ranked from Highest to Lowest 2-Bedroom Housing Wage

88Work Hours Per Week At

Minimum Wage To Afford a 2-Bedroom Rental Home (at FMR)

69Work Hours Per Week At

Minimum Wage To Afford a 1-Bedroom Rental Home (at FMR)

2.2Number of Full-Time Jobs At Minimum Wage To Afford a

2-Bedroom Rental Home (at FMR)

1.7Number of Full-Time Jobs At Minimum Wage To Afford a

1-Bedroom Rental Home (at FMR)

In Vermont, the Fair Market Rent (FMR) for a two-bedroom apartment is $1,139. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities — without paying more than 30% of income on housing — a household must earn $3,795 monthly or $45,545 annually. Assuming a 40-hour work week, 52 weeks per year, this level of income translates into an hourly Housing Wage of:

$21.90PER HOUR

STATE HOUSING WAGE

$1,139

$901

$1,790

$650

$537

$520

$236

Two bedroom FMR

One bedroom FMR

Rent affordable at area median income (AMI)

Rent affordable with full-time job paying meanrenter wage

Rent affordable at 30% of AMI

Rent affordable with full-time job payingmin wage

Rent affordable to SSI recipient

$0 $500 $1,000 $1,500 $2,000

OUT OF REACH 2017 | NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION VT–2

Vermont RENTER HOUSEHOLDS

Renter households (2011-2015)

% of total households

(2011-2015)

AREA MEDIAN INCOME (AMI)

2 BRFMR

Annual income needed

to afford2 BR FMR

Annual AMI

Monthly rentaffordable

at AMI30%

of AMI

Monthly rent

affordableat 30%of AMI

Monthly rent

affordableat mean

renter wage3 5

1

HOUSING COSTS

Estimated hourly mean renter wage

(2017)

Full-time jobs at minimum wage

needed to afford 2 BR FMR

Hourly wage necessary to afford 2 BR

FMR

Full-time jobs at mean renter

wage needed to afford 2 BR FMR

FY17 HOUSING WAGE

2 4

$989 $39,579 27%$19.03 $12.031.9 1.6$626Combined Nonmetro Areas $66,342 $19,903 $498 46,869$1,659

Vermont $1,790$1,139 $45,545 29%$21.90 $12.51 1.8$650$537 74,1372.2 $71,610 $21,483

Counties

Addison County 3,693$73,400 $551$1,835$1,015 $40,600 26%$22,020$19.52 $13.452.0 1.5$700

Bennington County 4,393$63,200 $474$1,580$988 $39,520 28%$18,960$19.00 $12.581.9 1.5$654

Caledonia County 3,240$57,400 $431$1,435$916 $36,640 26%$17,220$17.62 $12.061.8 1.5$627

Essex County 545$47,400 $356$1,185$781 $31,240 20%$14,220$15.02 $9.841.5 1.5$512

Lamoille County 2,816$64,100 $481$1,603$1,006 $40,240 28%$19,230$19.35 $10.081.9 1.9$524

Orange County 2,457$66,300 $497$1,658$979 $39,160 20%$19,890$18.83 $11.391.9 1.7$593

Orleans County 2,411$55,700 $418$1,393$788 $31,520 22%$16,710$15.15 $9.521.5 1.6$495

Rutland County 7,621$63,400 $476$1,585$948 $37,920 30%$19,020$18.23 $10.981.8 1.7$571

Washington County 6,466$73,900 $554$1,848$1,033 $41,320 26%$22,170$19.87 $12.842.0 1.5$668

Windham County 5,869$65,700 $493$1,643$1,035 $41,400 31%$19,710$19.90 $13.452.0 1.5$699

Windsor County 7,358$72,600 $545$1,815$1,057 $42,280 30%$21,780$20.33 $11.852.0 1.7$616

Metropolitan Areas

Burlington-South Burlington MSA $82,400 $618$2,060$1,395 $55,800 32%$24,720$26.83 $13.222.7 2.0$68727,268

FMR=Fiar Market Rent (HUD, 1999)

5: "Affordable" rents represent the generally accepted standard of spending not more than 30% of gross income on gross housing costs.

1: BR = Bedroom

3: This calculation uses the higher of the state or federal minimum wage. Local minimum wages are not used. See Appendix B. 4: AMI = Fiscal Year 2017 Area Median Income

2: FMR = Fiscal Year 2017 Fair Market Rent.

-$19.56

HI

-$11.39

MD

-$10.26

CA

-$9.46

NJ

-$9.39

VT

-$7.74

CT

-$7.68

MA

-$7.07

ME

-$6.96

NH

-$6.37

DC

Source: NLIHC calculation of Housing Wage; BLS QCEW, 2015; adjusted to 2017 dollars.

FIGURE 1: STATES WITH THE LARGEST SHORTFALL BETWEEN AVERAGE RENTER WAGE AND TWO-BEDROOM HOUSING WAGE

©2017 National Low Income Housing Coalition www.nlihc.org/oor

n TABLES & MAPS

OUT OF REACH 2017 | NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION 11

2017 MOST EXPENSIVE JURISDICTIONS

Metropolitan AreasHousing Wage for Two-Bedroom FMR

Metropolitan Counties1 Housing Wage for Two-Bedroom FMR

San Francisco, CA HMFA2 $58.04 Marin County, CA $58.04

San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA HMFA $42.69 San Francisco County, CA $58.04

Oakland-Fremont, CA HMFA $41.79 San Mateo County, CA $58.04

Honolulu, HI MSA3 $38.12 Santa Clara County, CA $42.69

Stamford-Norwalk, CT HMFA $37.65 Alameda County, CA $41.79

Nassau-Suffolk, NY HMFA $36.12 Contra Costa County, CA $41.79

Santa Cruz-Watsonville, CA MSA $35.15 Honolulu County, HI $38.12

Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine, CA HMFA $34.87 Nassau County, NY $36.12

Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA MSA $33.88 Suffolk County, NY $36.12

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD HMFA $33.58 Santa Cruz County, CA $35.15

State Nonmetropolitan Areas (Combined) Housing Wage for Two-Bedroom FMR

Nonmetropolitan Counties (or County-Equivalents)

Housing Wage for Two-Bedroom FMR

Hawaii $25.49 $32.52

Alaska $24.10 $32.35

Connecticut $21.06 $30.75

New Hampshire $19.38 $30.42

Massachusetts $19.23 $30.37

Maryland $19.22 $28.19

Vermont $19.03 $28.15

California $18.75 $28.13

North Dakota $17.52 $27.19

Colorado $17.16

Aleuitans West Cenus Area, AK

Monroe County, FL

Pitkin County, CO

Nome Census Area, AK

Denali Borough, AK

Juneau City and Borough, AK

Bethel Census Area, AK

Kauai County, HI

Skagway Municipality, AK

Dunn County, ND $27.12

1 Excludes metropolitan counties in New England.2 HMFA = HUD Metro Fair Market Rent (FMR) Area. This term indicates that a portion of the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) defined core-based statistical area is in the area to

which the income limits and FMRs apply. HUD is required by OMB to alter the name of the metropolitan geographic entities it derives from the Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) when the geography is not the same as that established by the OMB. CBSA is a collective term meaning both metro and micro.

3 MSA = Metropolitan Statistical Area. Geographic entities defined by OMB for use by the federal statistical agencies in collecting, tabulating, and publshing federal statistics. A metro area contains an urban core of 50,000 or more in population.

n TABLES & MAPS

OUT OF REACH 2017 | NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION 12

2017 STATES RANKED BY TWO-BEDROOM HOUSING WAGEStates are ranked from most expensive to least expensive.

Rank State1 Housing Wage for Two-Bedroom FMR2 Rank State1 Housing Wage for Two-

Bedroom FMR2

1 Hawaii $35.20 27 Georgia $16.79

2 District of Columbia $33.58 28 North Dakota $16.36

3 California $30.92 29 Michigan $16.24

4 Maryland $28.27 30 Louisiana $16.16

5 New York $28.08 31 Wisconsin $16.11

6 Massachusetts $27.39 32 South Carolina $15.83

7 New Jersey $27.31 33 Wyoming $15.80

8 Connecticut $24.72 34 North Carolina $15.79

9 Alaska $24.16 35 New Mexico $15.78

10 Washington $23.64 36 Missouri $15.67

11 Virginia $23.29 37 Kansas $15.59

12 Colorado $21.97 38 Tennessee $15.34

13 Vermont $21.90 39 Nebraska $15.22

14 New Hampshire $21.71 40 Indiana $15.17

15 Delaware $21.62 41 Ohio $15.00

16 Illinois $20.87 42 Montana $14.90

17 Florida $20.68 43 Mississippi $14.84

18 Oregon $19.78 44 Alabama $14.78

19 Rhode Island $19.49 45 Oklahoma $14.78

20 Pennsylvania $18.68 46 Idaho $14.65

21 Minnesota $18.60 47 Iowa $14.57

22 Texas $18.38 48 West Virginia $14.49

23 Maine $18.05 49 South Dakota $14.12

24 Nevada $18.01 50 Kentucky $13.95

25 Arizona $17.56 51 Arkansas $13.72

26 Utah $17.02 52 Puerto Rico $9.68

1 Includes District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. 2 FMR = Fair Market Rent.

$1,103

Rent affordable at 30% of AMI 2017 two-bedroom Fair Market Rent

$523

05/23/2017

FACTS OVERVIEW

Less than $15.00

$15.00 to less than $20.00

$20.00 or More

Two-Bedroom Housing Wage

ME$18.05

NH $21.71MA $27.39CT $24.72

NY$28.08

PA$18.68

NJ $27.31DE $21.62MD $28.27DC $33.58

VA$23.29

WV$14.49

OH$15.00IN

$15.17

MI$16.24

IL$20.87

WI$16.11

MN$18.60

IA$14.57

MO$15.67

AR$13.72

LA$16.16

TX$18.38

OK$14.78

KS$15.59

NE$15.22

ND$16.36

SD$14.12

MT$14.90

ID$14.65

WA$23.84

OR$19.78

CA$30.92

AK$24.16

HI$35.20

WY$15.62

CO$21.97

UT$17.02

NV$18.01

AZ$17.56 NM

$15.78

NC$15.79TN

$15.34

KY$13.95

SC$15.83

GA$16.79

AL$14.78

MS$14.84

FL$20.68

PR $9.68

RI $19.49

VT $21.90

WAGES NEEDED TO AFFORD RENT ACROSS THE U.S.

IN 2017, THE 2-BEDROOMNATIONALHOUSINGWAGE IS

$21.21An American household

must earn at least $21.21 an hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment

without spending more than 30% of income

on rent. This wage varies from state to

state.

MINIMUM-WAGE WORK DOESN’T PAY THE RENT IN MOST AREAS:

Federal minimum wage:

Annual income:

$7.25 $15,0802017 one-bedroom Housing Wage: $17.14Number of hours at minimum wage needed to afford rent:

94.5

DID YOU KNOW?

1 in 4RENTER

HOUSEHOLDS

11.4 million

HOUSEHOLDS

OR

HAVE EXTREMELY LOW INCOMES AND CANNOT AFFORD THE RENT

WWW.NLIHC.ORG/OOR

Most market rate apartments remain out of reach for renters at 30% of AMI

© 2017 National Low Income Housing Coalition