May 21, 2015
Thursday’s Advocacy & Think Tank Round-Up
- Federal Reserve Bank of New York Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit finds that delinquencies, foreclosures, and bankruptcies improve as household debt stays flat.
- NYU Furman Center Report: Building New or Preserving Old, finds that in neighborhoods with high rents, leasing underdeveloped NYCHA-owned land for private development could generate either substantial annual lease payments for NYCHA or significant numbers of affordable units. This would help the city meet two of its housing goals: creating new units of affordable housing without additional subsidy, and generating new revenue to help fill NYCHA’s budget shortfall.
- National Association of Realtors Summary of April 2015 Existing Homes Sales Statistics details the 3.3% slowdown by region and other factors.
- National Low Income Housing Coalition’s Out of Reach 2015 details the affordability of rental units nationwide. According to the study, the 2015 National Housing Wage is $19.35, meaning that someone working full-time, 40 hours a week, would need to earn $19.35 per hour in order to afford a modest two-bedroom rental unit while spending no more than 30% of household income on housing costs.
- In 13 states and the District of Columbia, the Housing Wage is more than $20 per hour.
- The 2015 Housing Wage is now 2.7 times the federal minimum wage of $7.25.
- There is no state in the country where someone earning either the state or federal minimum wage can afford even a one-bedroom apartment renting at the HUD Fair Market Rent (FMR).
