Document Actions
Addressing the Affordable Housing Crisis
The statistics are daunting: 740,000 households do not have and cannot afford a safe, stable home in N.C.; the average hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent is $12.61, persons with disabilies receive only $3.50 an hour in support; 8,891 households go without heat in the winter; and more than 13,000 homes still lack indoor plumbing. However, these numbers only represent the tangible need for housing.
For a printer friendly version of the following information, click here.
You must have Adobe Acrobat to read the .pdf file posted here. If you do not have Acrobat installed on your computer, click the Adobe icon to download the software. 
Housing Stock
|
3,523,944 |
Total housing units |
|
69.4% |
Homeownership rate |
|
17% |
Percent of the owner-occupied homes that are mobile homes |
|
14% |
Percent of the renter-occupied homes that are mobile homes |
|
1979 |
Median year of construction for owner-occupied homes |
|
1975 |
Median year of construction for renter-occupied homes |
|
4% |
Percent of total units that are seasonally vacant |
Housing Costs
|
$1,192 |
Median monthly homeownership cost (2006 dollars) |
|
$656 |
Fair Market Rent for two-bedroom unit [i] |
|
$12.61 |
Hourly wage needed to afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent |
|
$6.15 |
Minimum wage in 2008 |
|
$3.59 |
SSI income as an hourly wage in 2007 (assuming 40 hours per week) |
|
43% |
Percent of renters that don’t earn enough to afford a two-bedroom apartment at Fair Market Rent (412,689 renter households) |
Housing Problems
|
2,000,000 |
Estimated number of North Carolinians with a housing problem |
|
27.4% |
Percent of households with housing problems |
|
37.4% |
Percent of renter households with housing problems (359,000 households) |
|
22.9% |
Percent of owner households with housing problems (497,000 households) |
|
47.8% |
Percent of low-income households [ii] with cost problems that pay more than 30% of income for housing. This is 93% of all low-income households with housing problems. |
|
291,000 |
Low-income renter households that pay more than 30% of income for housing [iii] |
|
317,000 |
Low-income owner households that pay more than 30% of income for housing |
Sources: 2000 Census, National Low Income Housing Coalition's 2003 "Out of Reach" report, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
[i] "Fair Market Rent" means the rent for a less-than-average standard rental until: for a detailed description see www.huduser.org/datasets/fmr.html.
[ii] “Housing Problems” are defined as having to pay more than 30% of income for housing, having inadequate kitchen or plumbing facilities, or having over-crowded housing (more than one person per room).
[iii] “Low-income” means earning less than 80% of the median family income in North Carolina.
The state’s most critical housing need is improving rental housing opportunities for households earning less than 30% of median income.
