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Housing is Still "Out of Reach" in Illinois
May 2, 2011--According to a national report released today, the Housing Wage for Illinois is $17.38. The Housing Wage is the hourly wage a family must earn – working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year – to be able to afford the rent and utilities for a safe and modest home in the private housing market while spending no more than 30% of income on housing costs. Illinois' Housing Wage has increased 35% since 2000.
An estimated 56% of renters in Illinois do not earn enough to afford a two-bedroom unit. The typical renter in Illinois earns $13.44 per hour, which is $3.94 less than the Housing Wage. Illinois' minimum wage is $8.25.
In Illinois, among metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas, the lowest Housing Wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $11.13 in the metro-east Bond County metropolitan area. The highest housing wage for a two-bedroom apartment is $19.54 in the Chicago metropolitan area.
"Data from Out of Reach supports what we know about Illinois: low-income families are still struggling to find decent and affordable housing," said Bob Palmer, Policy Director for Housing Action Illinois. "While we work to rebuild our economy after the recession, and reduce our federal and state budget deficits, we cannot forget the low-income families whose basic housing needs continue to be unmet."
Housing Action Illinois is advocating to protect federal and state funding for programs serving the needs of people who cannot afford housing. For example, agencies providing emergency shelter and transitional housing are facing the loss of more than half their state funding, from $9.1 million to $4.4 million, under Illinois Governor Pat Quinn's budget proposal. In the most recently completed fiscal year, state-funded programs served 42,068 people, 29% of them below 18 years of age.
This year, Illinois ranks as the most expensive state in the Midwest for renters and the 20th most expensive state in the nation. The National Housing Wage is $18.46 in 2011.
The report, Out of Reach 2011, was jointly released by the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), a Washington, D.C.-based housing policy organization, and Housing Action Illinois, a statewide coalition formed to protect and expand the availability of quality, affordable housing throughout Illinois.
Data for every state, metropolitan area, combined non-metropolitan area and county in the country is available online, at http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2011.
