'Out of Reach' report measures rental costs in cities

Pastor Gregory Reeves, of the Jefferson City Church of God in Christ, says a prayer Saturday at Habitat for Humanity's Blessing of the Build on Ashley Street.
Pastor Gregory Reeves, of the Jefferson City Church of God in Christ, says a prayer Saturday at Habitat for Humanity's Blessing of the Build on Ashley Street.

Even in Missouri, where voters passed a minimum wage above the federal standard two years ago, affordable rental housing remains out of reach.

For more than 30 years, an annual report has detailed the gap between renters' incomes and the cost of housing. "Out of Reach 2020," produced by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, looks at data on a county-by-county level (and looks at metropolitan areas) to determine how much a full-time worker must make if they spend 30 percent of their gross income on housing (the accepted standard of affordability).

The interactive report, which may be found online at reports.nlihc.org/oor, allows users to look at national, statewide and local affordability.

The central statistic in the report is a "housing wage," according to Dan Threet, an analyst who worked on the report. A housing wage shows what someone needs to earn per hour to afford rent at a fair market rate.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is used to determine average weekly wages in communities.

The average renter in Missouri doesn't make enough money to afford a two-bedroom apartment, Threet said.

In order to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent in Missouri (without spending more than 30 percent of their gross income on housing), full-time workers must earn $16.07 per hour, according to Sarah Owsley, manager of public and policy organizing for Empower Missouri. Empower Missouri is focused on securing basic human needs and equal justice for every person in our state through coalition-building and advocacy.

In Missouri, there are nearly 2.4 million households, 33 percent of which are renters, according to the Out of Reach report.

Fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is about $836 monthly, according to the report. In the Jefferson City metro area - where there are about 35,000 households (30 percent of which are renters) - fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is just $670 a month. The metro area takes in neighboring counties or communities from which workers may commute. Cole County, for example, only has a total of about 29,800 households (9,700 of which are renter households).

Working at the minimum wage of $9.45 per hour, a Missouri wage earner must work 54 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom apartment, and 68 hours per week for a two-bedroom apartment, the report says.

In November 2018, state voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition B to raise the minimum wage to $12 per hour over a five-year period. On Jan. 1, 2019, the state's minimum wage increased from $7.85 to $8.60 per hour. It increased to $9.45 this year. It is to rise 85 cents each year until it reaches $12 in 2023.

The increase in minimum wage probably has something to do with the state's jump from 26th least affordable housing to 42nd in the nation, Owsley said.

"We're less unaffordable than other places," Owsley said. "That may be a win. But we still have an affordable housing crisis."

Every community has jobs that only pay minimum wage, such as fast food workers, teachers assistants, sales people, home health care aides and others, she said.

You always want to look at and consider how many work hours it requires to afford housing, she continued.

For example, in Missouri, a worker at minimum wage must work 54 hours weekly to afford a single-bedroom apartment (about $662 monthly). The same worker must work 68 hours to afford a two-bedroom apartment (about $836 monthly). The rental rates are a little lower for the Jefferson City Metro area - a single-bedroom apartment is about $525 monthly, and a two-bedroom is about $670 monthly, according to the data.

"Fifty-four hours is a job and a half. That is really difficult, particularly for a single parent," Owsley said.

And that was only for a single-bedroom apartment.

"That two-bedroom home - that extra space is not a luxury," she continued. "It is a necessity. They have to work more than a full time job to afford housing."

It's a challenge Jefferson City has faced for years, and one the May 2019 tornado that struck Jefferson City made worse, said Susan Cook-Williams, executive director of River City Habitat for Humanity.

Having enough affordable housing challenged Jefferson City for years before the tornado, Cook-Williams said. The tornado exposed the community's lack of housing, especially for people of little means, and it pushed the shortage to a critical point.

The tornado heavily damaged or destroyed about 150 housing units, the city estimated after the storm.

The Jefferson City School District bought a swath of the damaged rental homes and intends to build a sports complex where they stood. Many others have yet to be repaired or replaced.

The local Habitat for Humanity builds four or five houses a year to ease the housing burden in Jefferson City.

Following the storm, it vowed to double its efforts. While completing its normal rate of houses, Habitat's Road to Recovery program will produce an additional four houses in 2020 - at 415 E. Ashley St. and 904, 914 and 916 Jackson St., Cook-Williams said.

Through Habitat for Humanity, recipients of the homes put "sweat equity" into the construction of their new homes. They buy them with no-profit, no-interest loans.

In Jefferson City, a typical mortgage for a two- or three- bedroom Habitat home is about $500 per month, Cook-Williams said.

That includes taxes, insurance and other fees associated with closings.

"There is not one single county in the entire U.S. where someone can work minimum wage and afford to rent a two-bedroom apartment," she said.