Do the math — housing just not affordable for most

Dear Editor:

Christine Smith’s Exhibit A column in the April 18 edition of the Canton Citizen was a balanced review of the MBT Communities Act and touched on the need for affordable housing. It is unfortunate how often people perpetuate myths and stigma about affordable housing and those in need of it. Access to affordable housing is a crisis throughout the United States, including for Canton residents. For many hardworking families and individuals, the cost to purchase a single-family home or rent an apartment is out of reach.

As a general rule, a household should spend no more than 30 percent of its income on housing costs. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development establishes what is known as the Fair Market Rent (FMR), an estimate of the amount of money that would cover gross rent and utility expenses on forty percent of the rental units in an area. The FMR for a two-bedroom apartment in Canton is $2,827.

Each year, the National Low Income Housing Coalition publishes Out of Reach, which calculates the Housing Wage, or amount a person needs to make to afford rental housing in their community. The Housing Wage needed for a two-bedroom unit in Canton is $53.85 per hour. Priced Out – The Housing Crisis for People with Disabilities, a report that we do at my organization, the Technical Assistance Collaborative, indicates that a person with a disability on Supplemental Security Income living in Canton would have to pay 225 percent of their income to afford rent at the FMR. Let those figures sink in.

Wages are not keeping pace with housing costs, and rents continue to increase. While solutions to the affordable housing crisis may be imperfect, I think we can all agree that many of our friends and neighbors who work very hard or live with disabling conditions could benefit from more affordable housing in Canton.

Kevin Martone

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