Housing out of reach: New survey shows soaring rental costs in the Seacoast
By Jason G. Howe, jghowe@fosters.com
Foster's Daily Democrat (NH), 4/11/08
Foster's Daily Democrat (NH), 4/11/08
DOVER — Most people renting an apartment in the area can tell you what a study release Thursday has found.
Living on the Seacoast — from greater Rochester to greater Portsmouth — is expensive at best.
For many, it's unaffordable — literally.
Rental costs in New Hampshire increased 16.3 percent in the last year — the sharpest year-to-year spike in the nation for any nonmetropolitan area in the country, according to the report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Research was based on federal Housing and Urban Development statistics.
Those figures show the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the state is now $1,012. That's 47 percent more than in 2000.
"When you're paying 45 to 50 percent of your income to housing, it's a really perilous situation," Maggie Fogarty said Thursday afternoon. Fogarty is the economic justice project coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in New Hampshire. "That's not minimum wage earners either."
Experts recommend housing costs never exceed 30 percent of a person's or family's income. By that figure — which is used by the federal government when determining resident contributions for low-income housing assistance — most of those are renting apartments they can't afford.
According to the report, a single wage earner would have to make $19.45 an hour to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire. It would take three minimum wage jobs to earn that much money. Tougher still for workers is the state's average wage — $13.73 an hour.
"You have a whole bunch of people earning $10 to $12 an hour, and that puts housing way, way out of reach," Fogarty said. "We often talk about full-time employment as a way to get people out of poverty, where clearly, looking at the data, that is no longer a solution."
Particularly for those living in the greater Seacoast area, where the cost of rents is second only to Nashua.
According to Joe Couture, executive director of the Portsmouth Housing Authority, the federal government lists the average price for a two-bedroom apartment at $988 in the Portsmouth-Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area (PRMSA).
"Is there a housing crisis? Absolutely," Couture said Thursday. "The battle's in the rental market."
Couture's agency, like those Dover, Somersworth and Rochester, provides housing assistance to individuals and families that meet certain criteria. Based on the figures released Thursday, the median household income in the PRMSA is $77,300. That means a family of four making $61,500 qualifies for 20 percent support.
Still, those closer to the "average" are often hit the hardest, he said.
"It's always the people just above the subsidy level, that can't get subsidy, because there's nothing available for them," Couture said. "They have to struggle on in fair-market rent."
And that means it is again the average family that feels the pinch, Fogarty said.
Combined with the rising cost of food and gas, there are many residents left to make hard decisions between paying rent and buying food to eat or gas for their car.
"People left in this position have virtually no choice," she said. "What do you do if your choice is between feeding your children or keeping a roof over your head? There's no good answer."
According to Couture, many people left in that position move back in with relatives, or in a worst-case scenario, apply to a homeless shelter.
"The thing that worries me is the 700 people on our waiting list alone," he said. "Where are they? The cost of housing in the Seacoast is too high for average-income people to afford without a subsidy."
Although the cost of housing further north is substantially cheaper — $522 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Coos County, according to federal figures — one way or another, there's always a cost.
"The farther afield you have to live, the more you pay for it in other ways," Fogarty said. "Any way you slice it, it's difficult."
Living on the Seacoast — from greater Rochester to greater Portsmouth — is expensive at best.
For many, it's unaffordable — literally.
Rental costs in New Hampshire increased 16.3 percent in the last year — the sharpest year-to-year spike in the nation for any nonmetropolitan area in the country, according to the report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Research was based on federal Housing and Urban Development statistics.
Those figures show the average rent for a two-bedroom apartment in the state is now $1,012. That's 47 percent more than in 2000.
"When you're paying 45 to 50 percent of your income to housing, it's a really perilous situation," Maggie Fogarty said Thursday afternoon. Fogarty is the economic justice project coordinator for the American Friends Service Committee in New Hampshire. "That's not minimum wage earners either."
Experts recommend housing costs never exceed 30 percent of a person's or family's income. By that figure — which is used by the federal government when determining resident contributions for low-income housing assistance — most of those are renting apartments they can't afford.
According to the report, a single wage earner would have to make $19.45 an hour to afford an average two-bedroom apartment in New Hampshire. It would take three minimum wage jobs to earn that much money. Tougher still for workers is the state's average wage — $13.73 an hour.
"You have a whole bunch of people earning $10 to $12 an hour, and that puts housing way, way out of reach," Fogarty said. "We often talk about full-time employment as a way to get people out of poverty, where clearly, looking at the data, that is no longer a solution."
Particularly for those living in the greater Seacoast area, where the cost of rents is second only to Nashua.
According to Joe Couture, executive director of the Portsmouth Housing Authority, the federal government lists the average price for a two-bedroom apartment at $988 in the Portsmouth-Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area (PRMSA).
"Is there a housing crisis? Absolutely," Couture said Thursday. "The battle's in the rental market."
Couture's agency, like those Dover, Somersworth and Rochester, provides housing assistance to individuals and families that meet certain criteria. Based on the figures released Thursday, the median household income in the PRMSA is $77,300. That means a family of four making $61,500 qualifies for 20 percent support.
Still, those closer to the "average" are often hit the hardest, he said.
"It's always the people just above the subsidy level, that can't get subsidy, because there's nothing available for them," Couture said. "They have to struggle on in fair-market rent."
And that means it is again the average family that feels the pinch, Fogarty said.
Combined with the rising cost of food and gas, there are many residents left to make hard decisions between paying rent and buying food to eat or gas for their car.
"People left in this position have virtually no choice," she said. "What do you do if your choice is between feeding your children or keeping a roof over your head? There's no good answer."
According to Couture, many people left in that position move back in with relatives, or in a worst-case scenario, apply to a homeless shelter.
"The thing that worries me is the 700 people on our waiting list alone," he said. "Where are they? The cost of housing in the Seacoast is too high for average-income people to afford without a subsidy."
Although the cost of housing further north is substantially cheaper — $522 a month for a two-bedroom apartment in Coos County, according to federal figures — one way or another, there's always a cost.
"The farther afield you have to live, the more you pay for it in other ways," Fogarty said. "Any way you slice it, it's difficult."
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