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Report: Housing In Connecticut Less Affordable For Renters

By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN

October 24, 2011

More tenants in Connecticut are stretching to meet their monthly rent payments as the drop in the state's median household income hit renters particularly hard, according to a new report treleased Monday.

More than half of the state's renters, 51 percent, spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing, compared with 49 percent in 2009 and 36 percent in 2000, according to the "HousingCT2011" report released today by the Partnership for Strong Communities, which seeks to end homelessness and improve housing conditions.

Housing is generally considered affordable when a household spends no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing.

Connecticut's median household income fell to $64,032 in 2010 from $68,595 in 2008, but renting households saw a drop to $33,556 from $35,465 in the same period, the report said.

"While income fell, Connecticut's "housing wage" — the wage needed to afford the rent for a typical two-bedroom apartment — was the sixth highest in the nation," the report said. "The state's housing wage of $23.37 an hour equates to nearly $49,000 annually, an average wage level that nearly half the state's occupations fail to reach."

The prolonged period of high unemployment in Connecticut has increased demand for apartments as more residents opt to rent rather than buy, even though home prices have slid. As a result, rents have increased.