Spokane renters must earn $27.77 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment, according to a new report from low-income housing advocates. But the minimum wage falls well below that.
On July 17, the National Low Income Housing Coalition released its annual report, Out of Reach 2025: The High Cost of Housing, demonstrating a gap between wages and the income necessary to afford housing across the country. In Spokane County, 42,000 renters spend more than 30% of their income on housing, and the report indicates that Washington’s minimum wage of $16.66 an hour is insufficient for a full-time employee to afford rent, despite being one of the highest minimum wage requirements in the country.
Kevin Henrickson, an economics professor at Gonzaga University, said minimum wage offers an incomplete picture when assessing the cost of living in Washington…