In recent remarks at the National Low Income Housing Coalition Policy Forum, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Julian Castro stated, “Our nation can’t fulfill any of our major goals — from tackling inequality and improving folks’ health, to keeping neighborhoods safe and making sure every child gets a good education — unless we also focus on housing.” Castro went on to state, “That’s because housing is one of the most basic needs we have — a need that’s as much about how we live as about where we live.” The organization to which he was addressing his remarks distributes an important yearly study called “Out of Reach,” which it has done since 1989. The study details what it costs on average across the nation and state-by-state to rent a modest two-bedroom apartment.
The 2015 report states, “A renter earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would need to work 85 hours per week to afford a one-bedroom rent at the Fair Market Rent (FMR) and 102 hours per week to afford a two-bedroom FMR.” In our great state of Indiana, currently ranked 39th in the nation in the study, an hourly wage of $14.31 per hour is required to afford a two-bedroom apartment without paying more than 30 percent of one’s income, with the FMR cost at $744. In other words, a household must earn $2,480 monthly or $29,764 annually, assuming a 40-hour workweek, 52 weeks per year. Quite honestly, no one works a 40-hour workweek any more, but that’s another discussion on work-life balance and the ever-increasing productivity demands on the 99 percent with the ever-decreasing level of recreational activity in our lives, which is important to enhancing our quality of life, as noted by the World Health Organization. The bottom line is that housing should be much more affordable in relationship to wages.
And yet reflecting on Castro’s speech, there are other considerations beyond income that are also critical: the issues of fairness and opportunity, which have required federal intervention for the past 50-plus years. In terms of addressing the urgent housing needs of the very low income households, for the first time we now have the National Housing Trust Fund, which will begin providing grants this summer to address the shortage of 7.2 million affordable homes for the nation’s more than 10 million extremely low income families. The Obama administration has secured more than $170 million dollars for this program so far, which will be used to build, preserve and rehabilitate rental homes. There is also the work of our own remarkable Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana (FHCCI.org), which will hold its annual conference this week featuring keynote speakers Gustavo F. Velasquez, HUD’s assistant secretary for fair housing and equal opportunity; and Beverly Gooden, a domestic violence survivor, victim’s rights advocate and creator of the social media movement #WhyIStayed.
It is a great mystery to me how issues concerning discriminatory practices in housing were addressed prior to the 2012 creation of the FHCCI with Director Amy Nelson at the helm, along with a very dedicated and accomplished full-time staff. I am very familiar with the organization’s extensive advocacy work to assist victims of housing discrimination, whether one is discriminated against on the basis of the numerous protected categories under the Fair Housing Act of 1968 — such as race/color, gender, familial status, disability — or other noted categories also covered at the state and local level.
The FHCCI works to educate the public and policy makers on housing laws and other issues associated with fair housing. It does extensive research and tracks neighborhood demographics, the lack of inclusive communities and the increase of segregated neighborhoods, and it additionally looks at tangential issues such as transportation and economic/business development as they relate to opportunity according to where one lives.
FHCCI’s annual conference brings together at least 300 people from throughout the state, because in its short time of existence, it has become known as a remarkable force in the field of fair housing. If we are truly looking to see our state become one where all of our citizens can enjoy a good quality of life, then we need to follow the lead of our Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana.
Dr. Terri Jett is an associate professor of political science and special assistant to the provost for diversity and inclusivity at Butler University. Comments can be sent to tjett@butler.edu.
