"Many Americans struggling with rising rental housing costs"

[Arctic Dave]

WASHINGTON — The gap between the cost of renting a modest apartment and the wages of working families continues to widen, according to a new report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

"Out of Reach 2010" paints a gloomy picture for the nation's nearly 38 million renters, who make up a third of U.S. households.

On average, a family must earn $38,355 a year, $18.44 an hour, to afford a simple two-bedroom apartment at the 2010 national average fair market rent of $959.

However, the average wage for U.S. renters is $14.44 an hour, down from $14.69 last year. Further, more than 60 percent of U.S. renters live in counties where even the average one-bedroom fair market rent of $805 isn't affordable for average wage earners, the study found.



Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/04/21/92635/many-americans-struggling-with.html#ixzz0loD0gCyx

[msongs]

1. rents in so cal are going down on average nt

[Arctic Dave]

2. Not sure what they are in my area. They are not cheap or nice places from what I'm told.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Same Here In Chicago...

We're starting to see a reverse in the decades long trend of converting rentals to condos. People can't get the financing (unless they come in with 30-40% down) so instead of sitting on unsold units, they're being rented instead.

[SoCalDem]

4. and yet..in my town

there are HUNDREDS of foreclosed, empty houses all over the place. Rental agents deny people with "bad credit".. Every apartment place has "move-in-special" signs up, and there are two more HUGE complexes being built a few blocks from where I live..

Stores are closing right and left, and people are getting hours cut, who will move into all these fancy new apartments?

When my son & his wife rented, they paid $1350.00 for a walk-up 2nd floor place with a micro-kitchen and a living room barely big enough for their tv & couch.

It had a nice pool & they had a garage, but the entryway hall & stairs to their place was dark & dangerous-looking. He used to always wait for her in the parking lot when his wife had to work late..

[stray cat]

5. Who really cares about renters?

its homeowners that people care about.