I wrote: > > Mark Anderson response: > > Wow. Is that true? More than 60% working full-time @ an average of > > $7.50/hour? My impression is that these are single men Margaret's talking > > about. Didn't we previously establish that someone single and earning > > minimum wage (full-time) could pretty easily pay for an apartment with a > > roommate? ($7.50/hour times 2000 hours = $15,000/year. Times two = > > $30,000. If you use 30% of income, then one can afford $9000/year, or > > $750/month for two bedroom apartment.) Are these guys taking advantage of > > homeless shelters, when someone in real need could be using them? Or do > > these guys have more problems than just low wages -- they can't get along > > with a roommate, or they trash any apartment they live in? So maybe the > > problem of homelessness is the more shelters you supply, the more people > > decide to take advantage of free lodging? We'll never solve the problem > > that way. Am I wrong? > Chris Johnson replied: > Your numbers are suspect: > Well, they aren't my numbers; I got them from Margaret Miles, who works at a shelter. Admittedly, it is for only one shelter, so perhaps the overall statistics are different. Do you have statistics; I'd be very interested in knowing the real numbers.
> * Very few of those people are going to find jobs that let them actually > work 2,000 hours in a year at an average of $7.50/hour. Most are > part-time or temporary. > > * Although for higher paid, full time employees, 30% of ones gross > income might be a fair rule of thumb, for someone on the bottom end of > the scale is going to be pushing it at that rate. Take home pay on a > $15,000 salary in Minnesota is about $10,000 at 2003 tax rates. That makes no sense at all. I don't have the tax tables on me, but at $15,000 per year, income tax would be at most $2000/year. > > * Not all of these men are single -- there are a lot of homeless > families out there. > > * Finding a 1 bedroom apartment for $750/month in Minneapolis is hard; > finding a 2 bedroom apartment at that price is almost impossible. The > average rent for the metro area for 4th quarter of 2002 was $841. In > December of 2001, the average one bedroom rented for $735.81 and the > average two bedroom was $909.21. The prices are higher now, as there > has been no decrease in rental rates, although the rate of increase has > slowed in recent months. (All rental numbers from GVA Marquette Advisors.) > It's funny; the landlords on this List gave completely different responses. They said they had lots of $600 1 bedrooms, and many 2 br's for a little more than that. Quoting average rents says very little about the lowest rents being paid. I just perused the Saturday Strib, and your numbers look very suspect. There were many 1 brs in the $500's range. You didn't mention mention studios or efficiencies; there were several of those in the $400's range. Those of course are still rather high for those making $7.50/hour (that's why I didn't move into my own studio until I had a professional job). But I did find three 2 bedroom apartments for about $700 in the Strib. As well as a $900 3 br, and two $1000 3 brs. I remember when I was at the U many years ago, I normally found places to live by looking at the bulletin board on the bottom floor of Coffman Union. Now that Coffman' open again, do they have such a housing board? Or maybe it's all electronic these days? Anyway, I'm curious what the lowest rents students are paying these days. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, I was able to find housing at just under $100/month in the late seventies. Of course there were much more expensive options -- I only looked at the cheapest. I'd like to know what the equivalents are these days. Mark Anderson Bancroft TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
