Page 23 - 6-3-16 Friday's Edition

National
Eye Opening Report: You Need To Make $19.97 Per Hour To Afford 2-Bedroom Apartment In Florida
In 2015, the demand for rental apartments reached its highest level ever since the 1960s. The pinched access to mortgage credit after the Great Recession is one reason why. Another is that many Ameri- cans—especially the poor and people of color—haven’t felt the effects of the economic recov- ery, and may not be able to rus- tle up the funds for a down payment. A third reason is that Millennials, now the largest generation ever since the baby boomers, are especially loath to buy homes. The supply of rentals, especially at the lower end of the market, has been no match for the skyrocketing de- mand.
That means it’s getting harder and harder for average Ameri- cans to afford a modest rental in the U.S., a new report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition finds. “The lowest-in- come renters without housing assistance have always strug- gled to afford housing, but in recent years they have become
even more squeezed as more households enter the rental market,” Andrew Aurand, the vice president of research at NLIHC, tells CityLab.
In 2016, a worker would need to make $20.30 per hour to rent a two-bedroom accommo- dation comfortably—without devoting more than 30 percent of income on housing costs. Last year, NLIHC pegged this “housing wage” at $19.35 an hour. (And we’re not talking about luxury apartments here. The report tallies this average hourly wage against the De- partment of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Fair Market Rent, an annual estimate of what a fam- ily might pay to live in a simple apartment.)
To really understand the weight of 2016’s housing wage, consider this: The average hourly wage for Americans is actually $15.42 per the report, which is not nearly enough to afford a two-bedroom. And the federal minimum wage, at $7.25, is around a third of
According to the map, a person must make $19.97 per hour on average to afford an apartment in Florida. The stats for Hillsborough County in 2016 is--- $18.44 per hour needed to pay rent for 2- bedroom apt.
what’s required. That means minimum-wage workers would
have to work three jobs, or 112 hours a week, to be able to af-
ford a decent two-bedroom ac- commodation.
Slavery Documents Signed By President Lincoln Sell For $4.5M At Auction
Haitian West Point Grad’s Tearful Photo Goes Viral
West Point graduate Lt. AlixIdrache
The Emancipation Proclamation sold for $2.1M. and the 13th Amendment sold for $2.4M.
A photograph taken of Sec- ond Lt. Alix Schoelcher Idrache at his graduation from West Point went viral last week.
Idrache, who was born in Haiti, said the tears were due to 3 things.
“At this moment, I was over- whelmed with emotions. Idrache explained in a com- ment on Instagram. “The first is where I started ... The sec- ond is where I am ... The third is my future.”
Idrache, who graduated at the top of his class in physics, was among 953 cadets who re- ceived a degree that day. He
explained in his comment that his roots are in Haiti. While growing up there, Idrache saw U.S. forces on humanitar- ian missions, according to a press release. It was then he began dreaming of becoming a pilot.
“People where I’m from don’t grow up to be pilots right? They don’t dream of fly- ing a helicopter, that’s not something you do,” Idrache said in a press release. “You don’t just say I’m going to be a pilot and make it happen. There’re no aviation, there’re no helicopters, no flight schools. There’re none of
that.”
In 2009, the recent West
Point grad came to the U.S, following his father’s migra- tion to the states in search of better opportunities for his family. Idrache ended up join- ing the Maryland National Guard and left to attend West Point in 2012. He is now the Maryland Army National Guard’s first West Point grad- uate.
As for the future, Idrache will attend the Army Avia- tion Center for Excellence at Fort Rucker, Alabama, in July.
President Abraham Lin- coln forged two of the most important documents in American history: the Emanci- pation Proclamation and the 13th Amendment. Limited edi- tion copies, complete with Lin- coln’s signature were sold for over $4 million Wednesday.
President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclama- tion Jan. 1, 1863, while in the midst of the Civil War. The document declares, “all per- sons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the
United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.”
The 13th Amendment was passed in Congress January 31, 1865 and ratified Decem- ber 6th, formally abolishing slavery in the United States.
According to the 13th Amendment, “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, ex- cept as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their juris- diction.”
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