CTminimumwage workers must work 85 hours per week to afford rent, study finds
Aug. 3—The 2023 Out of Reach report primarily uses government data from federal and local agencies like the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Labor (DOL) to compare Fair Market Rent (FMR) to the wages of renters throughout the country.
The report found a stark disparity between what workers earn and what is needed to afford modest housing.
"The kind of home that can be rented for the fair market rent is in decent condition, but it is not luxury housing," it said in the report, continuing, "In no state, metropolitan area, or county in the U.S. can a worker earning the federal or prevailing state or local minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom rental home at fair market rent by working a standard 40-hour work week."
Nationally, NLIHC determined the housing wage — the hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom rental — is $28.58. That's well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
In Connecticut, it's even higher. According to NHLIC, the housing wage in Connecticut is $31.93, the equivalent of working more than two full-time jobs at the state's minimum wage of $15 per hour.
Three of Connecticut's five FMR areas come in just below that number. The New Haven-Meriden area's housing Wage is $31.33. In the Milford-Ansonia-Seymour area, it bumps to $31.58 and $31.77 in the Bridgeport area. Then the numbers start to jump. Danbury's housing wage jumps to $38.83 before skyrocketing to $49.49 in the Stamford-Norwalk area.
HUD defines housing affordability as paying no more than 30 percent of household income on rent.
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On average, the report found Connecticut renters earn $22.29 per hour, which is above the minimum wage but still below the housing wage. A 2022 analysis of similar data from Hearst Connecticut Media Group found comparable results. That report found Connecticut renters needed to make $60,000 per year to afford rent. Still, Connecticut renters earn an average of $26,000 less than needed for rental housing in the state to be considered affordable.
"There's a significant gap there (Connecticut) between what low-wage workers need to earn to afford rental housing and what they actually earned. There's a huge disparity there," Andrew Aurand, senior vice president of research at NLIHC said. "Relative to the rest of the country, it's an expensive market. The affordability challenges there are a bit worse than in other areas of the country."
Aurand said those disparities become even more drastic when you look at race and gender. According to the Out of Reach report, "extremely low-income renters account for 19 percent of Black households, 17 percent of American Indian or Alaska Native households, and 14 percent of Latino households, but only 6 percent of white households" nationally.
Aurand said that's reflected in Connecticut.
"The trend you would see would be the same, which is people of color — their wages, the wage distribution is generally much low for workers of color than white workers," he said. "So when we talk about the lack of affordable housing for low-wage workers, it disproportionately impacts people of color."
The report also found women — regardless of race, ethnicity or gender — earn less than their male counterparts and are further burdened by rental rates.
Aurand said Out of Reach highlights the vast number of low-wage workers who struggle to survive. When rent overburdens, he said, people sacrifice other necessities like food, childcare, transportation and healthcare. And that represents a significant portion of the nation's workforce, he said. According to the report, 25 million people work in the five lowest-paying occupations. That includes retail, food service, food prep, home health services, and building cleaning.
"These are not temporary jobs taken on by kids in high school looking for some supplemental income. That is a myth," Aurand said. "Many of these jobs, or low-wage occupations, are occupied by people who are raising families. They're just trying to get by. They're just trying to get by on these low wages and housing costs take a significant portion of their income."
Aurand said housing affordability presents several complications because of the roles federal, state and local agencies play. He said federal initiatives like the Housing Choice Voucher Program and Emergency Rental Assistance Program help, but more will is needed at the local level.
"There has not been enough political will or broad-based acceptance that we should solve this, which is a shame because we know how to fix the problem," he said.
Aurand said there needs to be more federal and state-level investment in affordable housing, but local communities need to make sure the development approval process and zoning regulations allow for housing.
Erin Boggs of the Open Communities Alliance, a Connecticut-based housing advocacy group, also said a lack of will compiled with racial disparities and a system that favors landlords over renters creates a "perfect storm of housing challenges."
"We have a suburban-dominated legislature representing areas where very few people are experiencing housing insecurity... they are not hearing from constituents that there is a dire need for more housing," Boggs said in a previous interview. "But legislators from cities are absolutely hearing that there's a dire need for affordable housing."
Despite the need, Boggs said the question becomes one of where to put the housing. Local zoning laws have allowed towns to block new affordable construction and a massive housing reform bill in the legislature this year was largely stripped of its teeth.
"It's outrageous," Boggs said. "It makes you question whether the State of Connecticut can really function to serve its residents."
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