Minimum wage can no longer afford an 2 bedroom apartment anywhere in the US. - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/06/13/a-minimum-wage-worker-cant-afford-a-2-bedroom-apartment-anywhere-in-the-u-s/ “The housing crisis is growing, especially for the lowest-income workers,” said Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “The rents are far out of reach from what the average renter is earning.” According to the report, a one-bedroom is affordable for minimum-wage workers in only 22 counties in five states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Those states all set their minimum wages higher than the federal minimum of $7.25.

Hopefully this brings more attention to this problem... it's likely one of the easiest for rich politicians to ignore It's been that way in Metro Vancouver for a long time

Kidding right? Trump has slashed affordable housing programs and Ben Carson wants to tripple the rent of exisiting members.

But remember, the wealth will trickle down one'a these days. Just keep your mouths open! It's not piss, it's golden money rain!

Clearly, the solution to this is to lower taxes further and reduce regulations so that the market will reduce rent to affordable levels again.

Hey, I never said I thought politicians would do anything about it. At this point all I can hope for is some sense of raised awareness to stave off complete despair

According to the report, a one-bedroom is affordable for minimum-wage workers in only 22 counties in five states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Those states all set their minimum wages higher than the federal minimum of $7.25. Oregon has one of the highest minimum wages in the US currently to my knowledge and even then what it says here is only true in the less populous and more rural counties. In Multnomah county (the most populous) it's still infeasible. Minimum wage here is $10.25/hour. In my area of Portland I've seen two bedroom apartments at the cheapest around $1200/month but that was like six years ago so it's probably gone up. You'd be earning around $1640/month before taxes at minimum wage. After taxes you'd be taking home around $1213.60 per month from a quick rough calculation. Nobody could possibly survive on $13.60 to make ends meet after paying rent.

This has been an issue for a long time. I remember when I was trying to move out 7 years ago, I couldnt.. There was NO WAY I could unless I had 2 other room mates helping pay the rent. The sad thing is, my job didnt want to give anyone the proper pay. My store actually pays us the BARE MINIMUM. Other stores around us are being paid the actual minimum wage. I tried to tell my manager this and they said that 8.25 is the correct pay, not 10.. Not in the area we live, its not. Its unfair. Places in my area, if you want a studio, which has no rooms and is about 300-500 sq ft starts off at 900-1,000 and thats first last and deposit that you have to pay upfront as well as utilities that arent included. Who the hell can afford that at 8.25? Especially if you arent full time??? You'd have to get 2 other jobs! Its nonsense. And now, theres loads of tourists coming in and the city has been building condos everywhere and rent is shot up even more. Locals cant afford to live in their own hometown. Im positive this has been going on all across america. There was an article I read about San Jose, CA and how the city was like a nothing city in terms of living. Nothing special, but all of a sudden, has boomed and now you have to be a millionaire to live there??? San Jose Real Estate Market Rising Home Values | Apartment Thera..

Title of the article is disingenuous. The report fails to mention key things such as what "decent" and "modest" actually mean, that is that its comparing the 40th percentile of housing to the earning wages of 2.3% of the working force above 16 in the United States (half of those workers are also under 25). ...it takes pretty specific conditions to result in a scenario where a minimum-wage worker can afford this fair market rent home, which implies that the aforementioned lack of affordability has to exist almost by construction. Why is this? The amount of housing in an area is fixed to some degree (this is a topic for another day) and higher incomes tend to bid up prices when supply doesn’t adjust to compensate. If there’s a general correspondence between quality and price, then we’re going to see, roughly speaking, the highest-income person in the most expensive home, the average-income person in the average home, and so on. As long as minimum-wage workers are a small fraction of workers (this report is at a federal level but suggests a small percentage), it’s unlikely that a minimum-wage worker won’t get outbid for that 40th percentile home. (Taken from here) In short, why are they expecting the lowest wage earners to be able to afford the 40th percentile of housing? There is cheaper housing available, the only issue with that is making sure its up to livable standards and not a place of squalor and that the lower income housing isn't taken from people who fit within that income bracket.

Because as the article states, more and more homes are lopping into the 40th percentile. Cities and states in general are focusing on more "luxurious" housing due to it allowing a higher return with lower cost: Housing costs have continued to rise with growing demand for rental housing in the decade since the Great Recession. At the same time, new rental construction has tilted toward the luxury market because of increasingly high development costs, the report said. The number of homes renting for $2,000 or more per month nearly doubled between 2005 and 2015.

I'm looking at 2 Bedroom places near me for more room to work and I'm looking at 1600 a month. I should probably just relocate.

Also lower risk since the types of tenants better houses will have are less likely to not pay and less likely to break stuff

"Can no longer afford"? Since when could anyone afford a 2-bedroom (let alone a 1-bedroom) apartment with the national minimum wage?

Did you try reading my post where I went over the prices in one of the few states that the article said were decent in some counties? Cause I kinda went over how one of the lowest two-bedroom apartment rates I could find around six years ago was still so absurdly high that at the current minimum wage (it was over a dollar lower at that point in time) you'd be left with $13.60 at the end of the month after JUST paying your rent?

I haven't checked in a while but last time I was in Oklahoma rent for a 3 bedroom home was like $300-$500 a month. That place is a bottomless pit though.

I can't even afford a 1 bedroom apartment in my area. And Oklahoma has cheap rent! $750/mo for 2 bedroom $600/mo for 1 bedroom at all of the places I've looked.

Even if minimum wage is hiked up to meet the demand, few with it will be able to afford that anyway. I have never heard of a full time, minimum wage job. At least around my area, "minimum wage" is synonymous with "part time work". Making minimum wage $15 an hour won't do shit with only a 15 hour work week.

Companies used to offer full time minimum wage employement for you to work your way up now they take the same span of time, and pay 3 people to do it at minimum wage it doesn't have to be that way, but it's a way to minimize benefits and other payouts.

(if it's even allowed in the first place. cities don't like allowing poors to be able to move in since MY PROPERTY VALUES.)

This is a serious issue with places like Walmart. Most Walmarts will work their workers ragged for the maximum possible without counting as fulltime work (32 hours per week max here in Oregon for example) before cutting your hours. Unless you're a manager. They frequently for 70-90 hours per week. So instead they get salaried instead so they don't get paid overtime.

I live in Connecticut, and was looking to move out from my parents place since I have a full time job now. It's still too fucking expensive. I'm probably going to stay at home and just keep saving money so I can afford a condo or something, I'm lucky my parents are okay with that since there's no point in renting an apartment when I can pay less rent to my dad and live more comfortably, although I lack privacy. I'm way better off than a lot of people I know and I seriously lucked out with my job, but this state is just too fucking expensive. Gas is starting to climb to nearly $3 a gallon, food is expensive, utilities are expensive, it's crazy.

The other day i was looking for houses to maybe buy and even homes from 1920 were going for 150k. Even one house which had water damage and mold from a massive gap in the siding that caused the wood to rot and the wooden floors to fall apart costed 140k as a "fixer upper". Property values keep ballooning out of control.

Oh you know, back before Reagan got in power.

My dad, at 18 in 1960 had a kid, a house, a full time job, and was going to school to be a lawyer at nights and was able to live comfortably. Before he died, he told me nothing like that would ever be possible again. he was absolutely right.

I WILL say, when I lived in Georgia, the housing/job pay was attainable and ideal. When I moved from Florida to Georgia with my mom and siblings at 16 years old (so 2006), we moved into a 4 bedroom house with a 2 door garage, 2 living rooms, a dining room, office, 3 story house with an extra room that was not included as a bedroom, but could, so 5* bedrooms, a winding staircase foyer near the front, a decent amount of land, 3 bathrooms and a kitchen with a built in laundry closet and the community was very quiet and nice and clean and had 2 schools in the neighborhood that my mom paid 180k mortgage. Everyone thought we were rich when we moved in. You get a shitty 2 bedroom/1 bathroom house in Florida with that money.. I remember when I turned 18, I was looking for apartments there before I left and came back to Florida and the rent for a 1 bedroom was $400! The place had a decent size and was 1 bed/1 bath and looked like it could be 1k a month. My friends who still live in Georgia are barely 30 and already have 3 story houses and multiple cars and have a regular job. I'm not sure how long that will last in Georgia, but its much easier there in terms of living.

Im glad your dad knew what he was talking about. My boyfriends mother is so convinced that me and her son are being lazy and that we could easily be out on our own without problems since we have jobs. My SO and I have moved out twice and had to come back BECAUSE we couldnt do it. He makes more money than me at 20hr full time... so, that should tell you something. I'd like to stay here cause I grew up here but I would gladly move if it meant we could GTFO of her house and start living a normal life. He wants to stay here and wait until his grandparents pass so his mother will take that house and we move into hers. >_< Im losing my mind here. I am considering just leaving and hopefully finding a tiny studio where I will just be by myself and if he wants to visit he can, but I honestly dont mind living in a tiny place (minimalist mindset here) and just saving if the rent isnt too high. Thats another thing, these tiny homes and train cart homes are appealing to me. The only reason why i am against them is because come hurricane season, I can only imagine what type of dangerous situation Id be in.

man wtf and here I get paid $7/hour you guys are lucky

Reaganomics, baby.

Chances are that 7$ goes a lot further though. Nothing is affordable in the western world for the average schmuck.

Its already gone, back in the crash you could net a 280k home for 120k because they just had so many homes sitting around. Now that market has dried up and people keep moving in thinking its cheaper. All "starter" homes I've been working in that are far from the metro area are asking 180-220k for basically a tiny house with 2br 2 ba and no land. If you were here while the gettin was good (07-11 if you didn't work the residential sector) you were able to snag giant homes for 70% their worth.