Marin among U.S. leaders in gap between wages and housing affordability
By Richard Halstead
Rob Eyler, CEO of the Marin Economic Forum and an economics professor at Sonoma State University, said, “At the current minimum-wage level, the two major options are to combine households or commute from a lower-rent area. We don’t have a great solution for it because we love the way markets work in almost every other way, but there are social costs.”
To afford a one-bedroom unit in Marin County, someone earning the California minimum wage of $9 per hour would have to work 140 hours per week, according to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Once a year the coalition, a research and advocacy group based in Washington, D.C., issues a national report on the gap between the wages people earn in the United States and the price of decent housing. According to this year’s report, an individual living and working in Marin would have to earn a wage of $31.44 per hour, or $65,400 per year, to be able to afford a one-bedroom unit.
That is twice the national average of $15.50 an hour required for a one-bedroom unit, the coalition reported.
Ranking communities based on the hourly wage necessary to afford a two-bedroom unit — without paying more than 30 percent of income on housing — the coalition found that Marin, San Francisco and San Mateo tied as the most expensive counties in the United States. San Francisco ranked as the most expensive metropolitan area in the nation.
Read Entire Article: San Jose Mercury News
