A person living in each of the following Eastern Washington counties has to earn the hourly wages identified in column two to afford to rent a modest two-bedroom home. (Data gathered from the National Low Income Housing Coalition’s 2010 Out of Reach report, www.nlihc.org. ) Column three identifies the percentage of renters paying more than 30 percent of their monthly income for housing.
| County |
Hourly Wage |
Percentage paying more than 30 percent of monthly income for rent |
| Adams |
$12.25 |
38 |
| Asotin |
$12.35 |
44 |
| Columbia |
$12.73 |
44 |
| Ferry |
$12.25 |
47 |
| Garfield |
$12.73 |
42 |
| Grant |
$12.58 |
38 |
| Lincoln |
$12.25 |
51 |
| Pend Oreille |
$12.25 |
53 |
| Spokane |
$13.33 |
47 |
| Stevens |
$12.25 |
47 |
| Walla Walla |
$12.73 |
50 |
| Whitman |
$12.81 |
60 |
In the January 2009 One Day Count, there were 1,229 homeless people in Spokane County. Single-person households numbered 648, which included 23 youth living independently. Family households totaled 174, with 335 children in those households. For more information please check www.spokanehumanservices.org.
The composite 2009 Spokane County Median Family Income (MFI) is $60,200.
As stated earlier, the recent study conducted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition finds that a Spokane County household must have an hourly wage of $13.33 or $27,720 annually, to afford an average two-bedroom rent of $693. The 2008 American Community Survey reveals that more than 24% of the households in Spokane County make less than $25,000 annually.
The vacancy rates among affordable studio and one-bedroom rental homes remains below 2%, (SLIHC Rental Survey 1/1/08), which has made it extremely challenging to find new homes for 200 tenants that have recently been displace from their downtown and Hillyard neighborhood apartment buildings.
Though the unemployment rate in Spokane County is lower than the national average, and job growth is in the top 15% in the nation, the growth is primarily in the lower paying service and retail sectors (Greater Spokane Incorporated Business Barometer, 2007).
- 39 percent of Washington households are of low income.
- Home ownership in Washington trails the national average.
- Public resources are key to housing affordability.
- Rental housing has become less affordable for households with the lowest incomes.
- The Federal Sec. 8 housing program is a critical component of affordable housing in Washington.
- Insufficient public infrastructure funding and regulatory barriers disproportionately burden affordable housing development.
- Insurance costs for housing continue to increase.
- Homelessness remains a pervasive and persistent issue.
- Low-income people with the greatest needs require affordable housing and services to remain in housing.
- Manufactured housing is an important source of affordable housing.
- Rising energy costs continue to impact the affordability of housing.
- Adequate farm worker housing is key to the state’s agriculture.
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