Of the 10 most common jobs in Ohio, just two pay enough for a worker to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.
Of the 10 most common jobs in Ohio, just two pay enough for a worker to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.
That's according to a report released Wednesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. The report said the state's "housing wage" — the hourly wage a renter needs to earn to pay for a basic, two-bedroom unit — increased again this year to $15.25.
The coalitions said the average Ohio renter earns $13.32 an hour, nearly $2 less than needed.
"People are doubled and tripled up," sharing living space to lower the burden of rent, said Bill Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.
Median hourly wages for registered nurses ($30.59) and customer-service representatives ($15.34) topped the amount needed, but the other eight occupations with the most employees fell below.
The most expensive metro area in Ohio is Columbus, where the necessary housing wage is about $17.50 an hour, or $36,400 a year. A slightly below average two-bedroom unit in the area costs about $910 a month.
For too long, policy makers have failed to look beyond raw job numbers and unemployment data, Faith said. Comparing housing costs with wages helps explain why so many continue to struggle in what appears to be a vibrant economy.
"When we're looking at job creation, we need to gauge whether these jobs are producing a living wage," Faith said. "Instead, we celebrate the creation of call-center jobs. Housing costs have risen so much faster than wages."
The report lists the other top Ohio jobs and their median hourly wages as food preparation (median hourly wage is $9.40), retail salesperson ($10.41), cashiers ($9.33), laborers and freight movers ($12.66), waiters ($9.45), office clerks ($14.42), janitors ($11.59) and stock clerks ($11.65).
Each year, the report estimates the full-time hourly wage a household requires to keep rent at about 30 percent of income, which is the federal standard for housing affordability.
Diane Yentel, president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said Congress "must invest in expanding housing solutions that provide stable homes for the lowest income people in our country."
U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, meanwhile, appears to be backing away from a much-derided proposal that could have raised rents for millions of poor Americans receiving federal housing assistance through the agency.
"The administration proposed cutting HUD's budget and raising rents to cover the budget hole. Now Secretary Carson is saying, 'Nevermind,'" Faith said, calling the policy positions "erratic."
Housing advocates have all the more reason to fight to make sure HUD maintains its focus on expanding housing opportunities, he said. Among households with incomes low enough to qualify for housing assistance, "just one in four get it," Faith said.
rprice@dispatch.com
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