I have to work how many hours??

A recent post in the Wall Street Journal on line indicates that to afford rent in American cities, on average, a minimum wage worker would have to work 86 hours per week. Here in the Charlottesville area, that number is estimated to be 108 hours, at Virginia’s minimum wage of $7.25.

Another way to look at this same cost burden is to see at what pay level an apartment would be affordable. In San Francisco, a two bedroom apartment would be affordable if you made $39.42 per hour (or a salary of almost $83,000.)

The “free market” for housing has led to rapidly escalating rents in cities big and small, including Charlottesville.  The many low-wage workers who make this a great place to visit and live are priced out of the rental housing market.  Piedmont Housing Alliance wants to build affordable rentals here so that more workers and their families can have an affordable place to call home.