A recent Facebook post in a local discussion group about the cost of rent in Ypsilanti highlights something that those who think “we’re in a rich community” will miss. The original poster notes that the average cost of a one-bedroom in Ypsilanti is about $1,100. If rent is supposed to be no more than 30% of one’s income, then renting in Ypsilanti is going to require an annual income of about $40,000.
That will require a minimum hourly wage of about $18.75. According to the original poster, an employer that offers a job at less than $18.75 per hour is “saying that the work you want done over a month isn’t worth a month’s rent. If you’re upset by this take, imagine how those who work full-time only to scrape by feel!”
I think the original poster was being generous. Average rent in Ypsilanti has increased much higher than $1,100 per month. On top of rising rents is the scarcity of available rental properties, and the fact that landlords benefit from keeping rent in Ypsilanti high enough to prevent people from accumulating a down payment on permanent housing. Layer in tax scams like Opportunity Zones, and it’s easy to keep the poor poor. So much for living in a rich community.
Rent in Ypsilanti is only half of the problem
The problem is more nuanced than how much a landlord charges for rent in Ypsilanti. If you look at data from the US Department of Education, the average Washtenaw Community College student can expect a median income of $36,000 ten years after enrolling in classes at WCC.
Again, I am not a math major, but if person needs to make $40,000 annually to rent in Ypsilanti, but- as a WCC grad – has a median income of only $36,000, that person will live neither in Ann Arbor nor Ypsilanti.
So, a WCC-educated person who hopes to live in Ypsilanti can expect to deal with a “need-have” gap of about $5,000 per year. (“Need-have” is the gap between the income a person needs and the income a person earns.) And this is 10 years after the person started taking WCC classes.
If an employer who pays less than $18.75 an hour in Washtenaw County is saying that their job on offer is not worth a month’s rent, what is WCC saying when its degrees and non-degree credentials don’t enable a person to earn a month’s rent in Ypsilanti?
Maybe it’s not such a great idea to reward landlords that make housing unaffordable, or community colleges that crank out low-wage earners. I’m not a conspiracy theorist here, but one hand seems to be washing the other.
When this area is so expensive to live in, why is our community college helping to keep poor people poor?
Photo Credit: Paragon Apartments, via Flickr
