A Roof of One’s Own – The Housing Problem in Three Graphs
Graph #1 – comes from the annual Point In Time Count of people who are homeless in the U.S. segmented by whether they have shelter.
Graph #2 comes from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s analysis of housing and rent price index increases compared to household income increases. Guess which rose faster? The Treasury analysts blame the aging population for boosting demand for housing. Does that mean that if people died faster, we would have enough housing? I’m not sure I buy that.
Graph #3: takes data from the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics quarter three 2024 median wage. It shows what affordable monthly rent is for different income levels compared to market rate rent. The Housing and Urban Development (HUD) definition of affordable is 30% or less of take-home pay.
“In no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage, or the prevailing state or local minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent.” From the National Low-Income Housing Coalition’s website.
Slow wage growth is at least part of the problem, and runaway housing costs is another part. What do we do while wages and housing costs get themselves sorted (assuming that will happen by policy or by market forces)?
One simple, tiny thing that I do – before I buy something, I research the maker. I’m not buying a sweater, or a trash bin or a cat food dish – I’m supporting the people who made them to have the dignity of a home. Yes, I realize this requires a certain privilege, but by doing this, I am helping more people to be able to do the same. I invite you to join me.
(Kudos to the English majors who caught the reference to Virginia Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own” – “A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.” Woolf’s requirement for novelists seems luxurious today when so many people need money and a room to bathe, eat, and sleep. I couldn’t resist the irony.)
