ProJo: Report affirms gap between what R.I. renters earn and cost of housing
“Simply put, we need to be doing more for the residents of Rhode Island,” said Caitlin Frumerie, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. “There is no excuse for people to be living in poverty and deciding between paying rent and putting food on the table.”
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The gap continues between Rhode Island wages and apartment rental costs, and Rhode Island is the 19th-highest-cost rental market in the country, according to the new “Out of Reach” report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
About 40 percent of Rhode Islanders rent their homes, and the state has 165,492 renter households. Providence is an especially tight rental market. The vacancy rate was 3.7 percent in the Providence metro region, according to the latest regional report by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Last year, the national vacancy rate was 7.2 percent.
The “Out of Reach” report, released Wednesday, is produced every year by the coalition, a housing advocacy group based in Washington, D.C. It tracks the gap between what renters earn and what it costs to afford a home at Fair Market Rent, which is established by HUD for different areas. Brenda Clement, executive director of HousingWorks RI at Roger Williams University, recently completed a nine-year term on the coalition's board, serving as chair for the last three years.
“The cost burden for renters in Rhode Island increased 38 percent from 2000 to 2015, with 51 percent of renters paying more than 30 percent of their income to their housing costs,” Clement noted. “When an individual is housing cost burdened, it prevents them from being able to save money, purchase a home, or invest in education. Low income, cost burdened renters in particular often struggle to meet basic needs.”
“Simply put, we need to be doing more for the residents of Rhode Island,” said Caitlin Frumerie, executive director of the Rhode Island Coalition for the Homeless. “There is no excuse for people to be living in poverty and deciding between paying rent and putting food on the table.”
Every New England state ranked in the top 25 for rental housing unaffordability: Massachusetts (6th), Connecticut (9th), Vermont (13th), New Hampshire (14th), and Maine (23rd). Hawaii has the highest rental costs in the country, and Puerto Rico the lowest, the report found.
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Courtesy of Providence Journal
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