DRAFT Morrisville Affordable Housing Plan, September 23, 2019 version

DRAFT SEPTEMBER 23, 2019

Income Range Cost Burdened Renters by Income, 2017

The region is home to over 57,000 renter households who earn less than $20,000 and, for all intents and purposes, are unable to afford market rents. The inability to afford market rents may result in some level of homelessness, but more common is rent burden, which is defined as spending more than 30% of gross income on housing costs. Nine in ten low-income renter households are rent burdened as they are forced to pay more than they can afford in rent. Households at this income include single low-wage workers—North Carolina’s minimum wage is $7.25— or those who are not working at all. Even at twice the minimum wage, rent burden continues to be a problem. Two full-time minimum wage earners, or a single earner at twice the minimum wage, will earn $30,000 per year. At that salary, a renter household can afford about $750 per month. Eight in ten renter households between $20,000 and $35,000 are facing a rent burden in a regional market with a median rent of $980. It is not until a household earns about 2.5 times the minimum wage that its odds of being rent burdened truly begin to drop.

90%

Less than $20,000

82%

$20,000-$34,999

42%

$35,000-$49,999

14%

$50,000-$74,999

T H E T A K E A W A Y

The Raleigh-Durham region’s worst affordable rental crisis is for the 58,000 renter households earning less than $20,000. The region is short by over 33,000 units for that group. This is more a low income problem than it is a high housing cost problem. Households between $20,000 and $35,000 may also struggle to afford rent, though the problem is not as severe as it is for those earning less.

2%

$75,000+

Affordable Housing Plan for Morrisville, NC | 2019

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