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Housing Facts and Statistics in NC
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 -- twice as much as minimum wage; 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.
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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 2007 |
|
$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 |
[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.
