A person in Hamilton County has to earn $7.81 per hour to be able to afford a modest, two-bedroom rental unit, according to the annual 2004 Out of Reach report prepared by the Washington, DC-based National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC).

The date compiled in the report, analyzes the relationship between rental housing costs and the wages of workers and their families in need of affordable housing.

The Out of Reach report shows both the depth and breadth of the housing shortage in Hamilton County. “The gap between what people earn and what their housing costs is stark,” said Glenda Parton, Homeless Coordinator for the Homeless Coalition of Suwannee Valley. “The consequences of ends that do not meet needs are all too real. Untenable financial choices, doubled and tripled-up families, eviction and homelessness.”

A review of the 2004 Out of Reach data reveals that:

Rising housing prices are especially acute for families earning wages that are typical for service-sector jobs, which are the backbone of Florida’s economy. The average income earned by families with extremely low incomes (those at 30% or below of their area’s median income) statewide is $7.55 an hour, yet there is no county in which an extremely low income household can afford the fair market rent on a two-bedroom home.

The weighted (pre-hurricane)”housing wage” for Florida in 2004 is $15.37 an hour, meaning that, on average across the state, a worker must earn two-and-one-half times the newly increased state minimum wage of $6.15 per hour to be able to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment. The housing wage in Florida has continuously increased each year.

The housing wage in Hamilton County is $7.81 per hour. Even with the recent increase in the state minimum wage to $6.15, minimum wage workers in Hamilton County must work 51 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom unit.

Among those impacted by the affordable housing crunch in Hamilton County are thousands of service sector employees, such as housekeepers and child care workers. Without them, Florida’s economy would grind to a halt. Yet decent and affordable housing frequently remains elusive for these workers and their families, jeopardizing the adults’ ability to work as well as the children’s ability to succeed in school.

As a result of this crisis, advocates are calling for restoration of full appropriations for the State’s housing trust funds, Florida’s dedicated source of revenue for affordable housing. Hundreds of millions of trust fund dollars have been diverted by the Legislature for unrelated purposes over the past several years. Along with restoration of these funds must come an increased emphasis on addressing the housing needs of extremely low income families, which are not well-served by State-administered housing programs. Only 1% of the rental units created in the history of these State programs are reserved for extremely low-income families, even though they comprise at least 60% of the unmet rental housing need. The funding cuts make it even more difficult to address that need.

At the national level, advocates are urging full funding for all federal housing programs such as the Section 8 voucher program as well as the establishment of a National Housing Trust Fund, which would provide communities with funds to build, rehabilitate and preserve 1.5 million units of truly affordable housing over the next 10 years.

Data for all Florida’s counties and metropolitan areas is available at the NLIHC website, :”www.nlihc.org”. Click on Out of Reach 2004.

The Homeless Coalition of Suwannee Valley serves the counties of Hamilton, Columbia, Suwannee and Lafayette.