So there are options available for low-income people, but still, they don’t solve the problem of affordable housing. These don’t have guarantees that the apartment would be affordable for everyone, even if rent there is a little lower than market rate. Beyond section 8, some other private apartments are also subsidized, but to a lesser extent. That ensures no one who lives there pays over 30% of their income in rent. These are privately-owned apartments where the federal government steps in and offers the landlord a subsidy. That’s also true for section 8 housing like Bethel Homes or Clarke Gardens. Rent in public housing is capped at 30% of your income, so it’s affordable by definition. They oversee places like Nellie B, Rocksprings and Broadacres. Public housing in Athens is run by the Athens Housing Authority. They can’t afford the average apartment, and might have to take a look at low-income housing, such as public housing or section 8, instead. For people working at $7.25, $8 or $9 dollars an hour, things are even worse.
Today, half of Athens residents who rent pay more than 30% of their gross income.
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Starting in 2018, you may have felt a squeeze – with your rent growing faster than your income, your apartment is no longer considered “affordable” in 2020.Īnd that’s for someone working full time at thirteen dollars an hour. If you kept that job, and were fortunate enough to get a 2% raise every year, your apartment would have stayed affordable, but only through 2017. To afford an average studio apartment in Athens in 2014, you had to work full time at $11.85 an hour. While the minimum wage has stayed flat since 2009, in recent years the price of an average rental in Athens has gone up by about 18%, or 9% over inflation. Wages have gone up since those days, but not by all that much. But it’s becoming more and more difficult if not impossible to find those apartments for $250 a month, which used to be fairly common. So, while good paying jobs are definitely important, so is affordable housing. Affordable housing in Athens is harder to find The low cost of living here was actually one of the main draws for musicians and other creative types. Tim Sommer: “Athens, Georgia: red clay, all night parties, loud bands, cheap, cheap rents.” We wanted to find out more about this musicial hotspot, so we sent our man Tim Sommer down to take a guided tour of Athens with the B-52s themselves.” MTV’s Kurt Loder: “REM, Pylon and Love Tractor just to name a few. Back in the 80s and 90s, no one was talking about the lack of affordable housing in Athens. Well, at some level this is a matter of opinion, but let’s take a closer look. The problem, they say, is the lack of good paying jobs, not housing costs. The federal Department of Housing and Urban Development says that housing is considered to be affordable when your rent or mortgage is at most 30% of your total income.įor someone like Jeff Bezos, the Taj Mahal or the Palace of Versailles would both be considered affordable, but for someone out of work with zero income, nothing would be considered affordable.īecause of how related the problem of affordable housing is to the problem of income inequality, some people reject the idea that we have an affordable housing problem in Athens at all. This, this or even this could all be examples of affordable housing depending on the income of the person living there. So what is affordable housing? It depends on who’s asking. Why is that happening? What does it mean to say that housing is affordable or not? And what can we do on a local level to ensure that more people have access to quality housing for a price they feel good about? Let’s find out on this episode of Athens Politics Nerd! What is affordable housing? But, we’ve got the transcript if you prefer to read, as well: TranscriptĮvery year, housing seems to be more and more unaffordable in Athens, with rent and home prices going up quickly. There is a lot of visual information presented in the video that’s not included in the transcript below, so we recommend watching instead of reading. Your donation will help support independent media in Athens. What does it even mean to say that housing is affordable or not? Watch the video above to find out!īecome a member of APN today and you can help choose the next video topic! A one-time donation via PayPal would also be greatly appreciated. Housing seems to be growing less and less affordable in Athens with rent and home prices going up quickly.
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