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Gap Between Wages and Rental Costs Continues to Grow

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Affordable multifamily apartments provide critically needed housing by giving preference to low-income families and people who live or work in Mountain View, thereby promoting accessibility to those struggling to find housing in an extremely competitive market.

By Lisa Brown | Updated on October 21, 2016
multifamily ROEM’s newest multifamily project is specific to incomes at 60% of the Santa Clara County area median.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—From 2010 to 2014, there were more than 189,000 new jobs and 113,000 new residents added in Silicon Valley, but the region built only 36,414 new housing units, according to Joint Venture Silicon Valley. And, a recent report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition found that in no state, metro area or county nationwide can a full-time worker earning the prevailing minimum wage afford a modest two-bedroom apartment, GlobeSt.com learns. This is true even in cities where minimum wages are higher than the federal level.

In Silicon Valley, the gap between what even the average renter household can afford to pay and the prevailing rents is even more staggering. HUD’s 2017 fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Clara County is $2,220. In order to afford this level of rent and utilities without paying more than 30% of income on housing, a family must earn $7,400 monthly or $88,800 annually, according to ROEM Builders Inc.

Hoping to stem the tide of the housing crisis, an affordable multifamily apartment community, Evelyn Family Apartments, will offer studio, one, two and three-bedroom apartments to families making up to 60% of the Santa Clara County area median income. It is to be located at the southwest intersection of East Evelyn Avenue and South Bernardo Avenue on a 1.93 acre site.

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