Many Cook County renters can’t afford the tab

According to a new study, Minnesota ranks at the bottom of 12 Midwest states for affordable rent. In Cook County 40 percent of renters are probably paying more than they can afford. The report “Out of Reach 2010” has been released by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition and the Minnesota Housing Partnership.

The study says "affordable" rents represent the generally accepted standard of spending not more than 30% of gross income on gross housing costs. Using that definition, local renters should be paying $455 per month. Instead they’re paying an average of $588 per month for a two-bedroom rental. That figure is about $40 lower than rents generally found in Greater Minnesota, but nearly equal to neighboring Lake County.

Leigh Rosenberg, research and outreach manager of the Minnesota Housing Partnership told the Minnesota News Connection, living in rural Minnesota isn’t cheap.

Rosenberg: “Not only do workers in more rural areas make less money to begin with, there can be a shortage of rental housing, which can really push prices up. So there is a serious affordability gap there, in Greater Minnesota.”

“Out of Reach 2010” says a worker needs to earn $23,520 annually to afford a two-bedroom rental in Cook County. At the current average wage that means a renter household needs to tally up 66 hours a week on the job year around – slightly more than one-and-a-half wage earners to meet the affordability criteria. It’s even tougher for minimum wage earners and those receiving Supplemental Security Income payments.