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Housing cost burdens continued to escalate in Massachusetts, which is now the third-least affordable state in which to rent an apartment.
Full-time workers in the Bay State need to earn $33.81 per hour to afford a two-bedroom market-rate apartment, according to a report by the Citizens’ Housing and Planning Association and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
“Unfortunately, in the last year, finding an affordable home in Massachusetts has become even more out of reach for people with low incomes,” Rachel Heller, CEO of CHAPA, said in a statement. “Despite recently raising our state minimum wage, it is less than half of what is needed to afford a modest apartment in Massachusetts.
A minimum wage worker making $12 an hour would need to work 91 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom apartment in Massachusetts, the report said. The typical Bay State renter earns $20.72 an hour, or $52,000 a year.
The report is based upon a formula that housing costs should comprise a maximum of 30 percent of income to be considered affordable.
The report blames reductions in availability of housing assistance and a decline in 2.5 million low-income apartments since 1990, combined with racial and economic inequality.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has spotlighted housing costs with legislation designed to bring down renting and home ownership costs. The American Housing and Economic Mobility Act would pay for construction of 3.2 housing units for low-income and middle-class households, provide down payment assistance in communities historically affected by redlining and provide $2 billion in assistance to homeowners underwater on their mortgages.
Locally, Cambridge officials are reviewing a zoning overlay proposal that would allow developers to build multifamily housing as-of-right citywide if they include 100-percent affordable units.
