Study Finds Housing Increasingly Unaffordable

Study Finds Housing Increasingly Unaffordable

A study released Tuesday by The Center for Housing Policy, the research arm of The National Housing Conference, an affordable housing advocacy group, found that a shrinking number of wage owners can still buy into the housing market. Perhaps even more alarming is the number of vital workers who are unable to afford even the rents in the communities they serve.

The study, titled Paycheck to Paycheck: Wages and the Cost of Housing in America, found that the median cost of a home nationally grew from $186,000 in the fourth quarter of 2003 to $225,000 in the first quarter of 2005, a growth of 20 percent. Yet, during that same time period the wages and salaries of many crucial employees such as police officers, janitors, and licensed practical nurses remained flat and, in many areas continued to slip farther and farther below the amount necessary to purchase a home.