Affordable housing experts and advocates say three-quarters of extremely low-income renters in Indiana are spending 50 percent or more of their income on housing.
Kyle Arbuckle is a housing advocacy organizer for the National Low Income Housing Coalition. He said Indiana is second highest in the Midwest in proportion of renters who are severely cost burdened. He adds that the Monroe County proportion of severely cost burdened renters is even higher, at 86 percent.
“There’s an affordability crisis and a supply crisis," Arbuckle said. "And I think you need to tackle those both head-on if you want to address the homelessness crisis. There are plenty of people currently sleeping on the street but there are also so many people that are on the verge of that as well.”
Arbuckle’s Coalition reports that a person must make $16.32 an hour to afford a two-bedroom unit in Indiana. The average wage of renters in the state is $14.44.
In Monroe County, a resident would need to make $16.90 to afford a two-bedroom unit. The average renter makes $10.86.
Arbuckle adds this data comes from the federal American Community Survey.
