Amanda Williamson
The Florida Times Union

Children rushed Sylvetta Blandenburg as she stepped onto the playground at Oakland Terrace Apartments, a supportive housing development on Jacksonville’s Eastside.

She lives on the property with her five children in a four-bedroom apartment Blandenburg was lucky to find. The complex, through its developer Ability Housing, offers affordable units to fit a tenant’s needs and income level. Supervising the children for the summer complements her work at a local daycare.

“Market rent for a four-bedroom is like 700 or 800-something. It would have been too much,” Blandenburg said. “It still was going to be a lot even if I got a two-bedroom for me and my kids, but that wouldn’t have been enough room. Then, I wasn’t even working. I probably wouldn’t have been able to afford that.”

Blandenburg is far from alone in her housing struggles. A recent report — Out of Reach 2017 — from the National Low Income Housing Coalition documents the gaps between renters’ wages and the cost of rental housing. It highlights the wide disparity between what a minimum-wage worker earns compared to what he or she can expect to pay for even a basic studio apartment.

In only 12 counties in America can a full-time worker earning state or federal minimum wage afford a one-bedroom home, according to the report. In no state at all can a person earning minimum wage afford a two-bedroom apartment. High rents have another detrimental effect: delaying home ownership, long a symbol of the American Dream.

Here in Duval County, in order to afford a modest, two-bedroom home, renters need to earn $18.63 an hour. That is $10.53 more than the state minimum wage — and about $2 more than what the average renter in Jacksonville earns.

“Even if you take these numbers with skepticism, the story they tell is grim,” said Jaimie Ross, president of the Florida Housing Coalition, a state partner for the National Low Income Housing Coalition. “When you’ve got folks who are not in the tech industry, who don’t have a degree that gives them a good-paying job, it is very, very difficult for them to provide for their families and for them to find housing for their families.”

‘BY THE NUMBERS’
About 16 percent of Duval County’s 913,000 residents live below the poverty line. They must compete for housing in a market where demand for rental units keeps increasing — and as a result, so do prices.

According to Ability Housing’s Operations Director Micheal Cochran, Duval County has seen an increase since the recession in the number of people trying to access affordable housing, but the number of rental units constructed locally has not kept up.

“It’s been difficult to find any rental unit at all,” Cochran said. “For the family that needs an affordable four-bedroom, they just don’t exist.”

In Jacksonville, the median annual income for renters hovers at $33,440 — but one of the lowest percentiles of renters here earns only $19,320 a year. Those individuals are considered to be living in extreme poverty, according to U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development standards. They can afford $483 per month on rent without sacrificing other basic needs: groceries, utilities, transportation.

HUD sets fair market rent — or the amount of money a property would rent for if available — for one-bedrooms in Jacksonville at $791. For two-bedrooms, that figure is $969. A four-bedroom, like the one Blandenburg rents, has a fair market rent of $1,625. To afford that sum, a renter has to earn $65,000 a year.

According to the latest Out of Reach report, a minimum-wage renter must work 75 hours a week to afford a basic one-bedroom apartment and 92 hours a week to rent a two-bedroom.

“So, clearly a person making minimum wage is not going to be able to afford an apartment in Duval or anywhere else in Florida. Typically, though, you won’t just have one minimum-wage worker. You’ll usually have two,” Ross added. “Where can a single parent afford to live? You’ll find, in your community, that it’s virtually nowhere.”

Counties surrounding Duval, such as St. Johns, Nassau and Clay, have a similar affordability. Around the state, rent ranges between $741 for a studio and $1,749 for a four-bedroom.

When considering housing, Ross said, affordability isn’t the only consideration. It should be safe, sanitary and suitable for living. An elderly person might find an apartment he or she can afford, but if there are three flights of stairs, it’s not suitable.

IMPACTS ON PEOPLE, ON DUVAL COUNTY 
CAN HOUSING BE SOLVED?
Laws exist in Florida requiring that state and local governments provide housing, Ross said, but that doesn’t mean they have to build the housing. Instead, the government must create an environment for it.

Every year for nearly a decade, Florida lawmakers converted money from the affordable-housing trust funds into general revenue. Housing programs are funded by a documentary stamp tax paid on all real estate transactions. This year, it is estimated they will bring in about $292.37 million. Once again, not all of that will go to housing.

“We thought that would stop happening after the recession ended, but it has continued,” Ross said. “All housing trust fund money should be used for housing.”

Policies can be implemented by local governments to create affordable housing. For example, inclusionary housing policies require affordable-housing units to be developed alongside market-rate units. Areas like Palm Beach and Tallahassee already use such measures.

nother approach is a linkage fee that generates income on non-residential development by collecting a set amount of money when companies apply for building permits. Throughout Florida, Community Land Trusts are gaining momentum. Duval County doesn’t have one, Ross said.

“Nobody believes there are going to be any increases in housing funding,” Ross said. “That’s why we need to do more.”

INTO A HOME
About six years ago, drug use forced Sylvetta Blandenburg into homelessness. It also changed her life.

Ability Housing, a nonprofit that develops affordable housing and wrap-around community services, offered her a place to stay until Blandenburg earned a stable income, until she established a checking account and life insurance, until she could care for her family.

Oakland Terrace, Blandenburg’s complex, is one of Ability Housing’s four Jacksonville properties. All of Oakland Terrace’s units qualify for subsidies through HUD. Tenants pay their rent through a mixture of those subsidies and personal income. On average, out-of-pocket rent paid by an Oakland Terrace resident is $271.

Ability Housing is the only non-profit developer in Duval County providing multifamily housing, but it receives support from community businesses and philanthropists. Recently, CenterState Bank provided a $100,000 grant.

Without the nonprofit, Blandenburg says, she wouldn’t be where she is now. In the next couple months, she plans to leave Oakland Terrace for a house of her own.

Blandenburg worked with the HUD home ownership voucher program to move from Oakland Terrace into a local subsidized home. Based on income, the HUD program allows Blandenburg to rent-to-own the house.

“I didn’t have a bank account,” Blandenburg said. “Now I do. I’ve been saving.”

Her advice to others struggling with housing: “Use the system, get yourself better in the system, and get out of the system.”

Article last accessed here on July 11, 2017.