TAMPA, FLa. — In our ongoing coverage of Florida's constantly increasing prices (The Price of Paradise), a new study is showing just how tough the state is for low-income workers.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a worker earning the minimum wage in Florida, $12.00 per hour, would have to work 98 hours per week to afford a "modest 1-bedroom rental home."
According to the study, a minimum-wage worker would have to work 117 hours per week to afford a 2-bedroom rental home at fair market value.
Put another way, a minimum wage worker would need 2.9 full-time jobs to afford a 2-bedroom rental home in Florida.
2024 Out of Reach Florida by ABC Action News
Zooming into the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region, the study found the fair market value of a 2-bedroom unit was $1,851, and a worker would need an annual income of $74,040 to afford that price.
The study found the mean renter's wage in the region to be a little more than $23.33 an hour. Given that wage, the monthly rent affordable at the mean wage was $1,213.
“You know, it might just be time we take a look if HOAs are really even necessary.
Maybe we should just do away with homeowner associations as a whole.”
South Florida lawmaker Rep. Juan Carlos Porras (R-Miami) says it may be time to do away with homeowners associations altogether, as more Floridians speak out about rising fees, costly lawsuits, and even arrests tied to HOA disputes. He said this week that he is considering filing legislation in the next session that would abolish HOAs statewide.
