Affordable Housing in the Upstate

By Diane Eldridge

     Like many regions throughout the United States, the Upstate is faced with a persistent and growing affordable housing crisis. While most Upstate families live in relative comfort in a house or apartment that is structurally sound with running water and indoor facilities, an increasing number of our neighbors do not. In every Upstate county there are families who simply cannot afford suitable housing.

This is one of the most significant and challenging issues facing our fast-growing region today. Affordable housing is essential to the well-being of our families and plays a key role in the economic viability of our communities. However, many Upstate families struggle to make their monthly mortgage or rent payments and spend too much on housing to afford other necessities. For some, the American dream of owning a home is just that – a dream.

Making that dream a reality for as many Upstate residents as possible will also help us conserve our fiscal and natural resources. Urban areas with a balance of quality housing will attract and keep residents and reduce development of “greenfields.” If housing is affordable where infrastructure and services already exist, there will be less need for new roads, schools and utilities and less consumption of land in our rural areas. Thus, affordable housing is truly “green”: homes are less expensive, government budgets are reduced, and less land is developed.

Income and Housing in the Upstate

Upstate South Carolina Median Family Income 2000 Census

Source: www.census.org

The value of a median-priced home in the Upstate ranges from $74,800 (Laurens County) to $111,000 (Greenville County), while median incomes range from $39,739 (Laurens County) to $50,322 (Greenville County). More than a third of Upstate families earn well below the median income.

Unfortunately, incomes in the Upstate are not keeping pace with the increasing cost of homes in any county – very bad news for low- to moderate-income families struggling to find affordable housing. For example, the value of a median-price house in Oconee County rose by 71.4 per cent between 1990 and 2000, while median income increased by only 39.5 per cent. If this trend continues, and there is every reason to believe it will, more and more Upstate families will struggle to find affordable housing.

What is “Affordable Housing”?

Upstate Annual Family Income 2000 Census

Housing is generally considered “affordable” when no more than 30 per cent of household income is spent on mortgage or rent payments, insurance and utilities. According to the 2000 census, 17 per cent of Upstate families are already paying 30 per cent or more for housing, and the situation is only getting worse.

• Applying the 30 per cent rule, we can make the following findings for our region:
• Families that earn at least the median household income in all Upstate counties can afford to buy the median value home in their counties.(1)
• Families earning the median household income in all Upstate counties can afford Fair Market Rent (FMR) for an apartment with up to four bedrooms.(2)
• Families earning 80 per cent of median can afford the median priced house only in Anderson and Laurens Counties under all three loan scenarios (see footnote no. 1), and in Pickens County with a conventional loan.
• Upstate families earning 50 per cent of median have no options for ownership of median value homes and limited options for renting FMR apartments.

The picture is bleak for many work force employees whose family income depends upon a single wage earner.

• The only Upstate county where police earning the median income for their profession can afford the median priced house is Laurens.
• Firefighters earning the median income for their profession cannot afford a median value house in any county.
• Teachers earning the Upstate median income for their profession cannot afford the median value house in Greenville County at all, and only under limited loan scenarios in Oconee and Pickens Counties. (They can afford the median price house in Anderson, Laurens, and Spartanburg Counties.)
• It would take two workers earning minimum wage to afford any FMR apartment in the Upstate, three to afford a median price house in Laurens County, and four in all the other Upstate counties.

Our region is home to over one million people and our population increases by about 39 people every day. By 2030, there will be another 400,000 residents in the Upstate. What could be more important than ensuring an adequate, conveniently located and affordable supply of housing for these residents?

More information on this topic is available on our website, www.upstateforever.org, including a county-by-county breakdown of income, housing cost information, and statistics on affordable housing.

1 Conventional, VA and FHA mortgage payments
including insurance according to Ginnie Mae Calculator.

2 FMR as determined by the National Low Income
Housing Coalition.