Increasing Inequality & Decreasing Affordability

Increasing Income Inequality...

Who Can Afford to Live in Delaware

Since the 1970s, income inequality among families in Delaware has increased. According the the latest report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the economic growth of the past two decades was not shared evenly among the poor , the rich, and the middle class. Instead, the top fifth of families fared substantially better than other income groups.

In the late 1970s, the richest 20% of families had average incomes 6.6 times as large as the poorest 20%. By the late 1990s, that ratio had grown to 8.7.

By the late 1990s, the share of income held by each 20% of Delaware’s population was as illustrated in the accompanying graph. The richest fifth held 44%, while the poorest held 6%.

Average Income Growth Through the Late 1990s	20 YEARS (Since late 1970s)	LAST 10 YEARS (Since late 1980s)
Richest Fifth	$33,600	$25,230
Middle Fifth	$4,490	$1,220
Poorest Fifth	$210	($740)
Source: Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, "Poverty & Income Trends," (10/00)

...Decreasing Rental Affordability

Delaware’s Housing Wage
Area	1-br	2-br	3-br
DE	$11.79	$14.06	$18.90
Wilm	$12.71	$14.83	$20.15
Dover	$11.21	$12.75	$16.56
Nonmetro	$9.40	$12.00	$15.77
Kent	$11.21	$12.75	$16.56
NC	$12.71	$14.83	$20.15
Sussex	$9.40	$12.00	$15.77
Source: Out of Reach 2003, www.nlihc.org

In Delaware, where the minimum hourly wage changed on October 1, 2000 from $5.85 to $6.15, the two -bedroom Housing Wage is $13.79, slightly higher than the national median and higher than the same figure in 38 out of the 51 states.

Over one -third (35%) of Delaware tenants are estimated by the report to be unable to afford the two -bedroom FMR.

This means that a worker earning $6.15 an hour would have to work 82 hours per week (instead of 90 before the increase in the state minimum wage) to be able to afford the prevailing two - bedroom FMR.

The Housing Wage in Delaware --the hourly wage a 40 -hour per week worker needs in order to pay not more than 30% of her or his income for the rent-- varies in different parts of the state.

Delawareans are fortunate to have had two recent increases in the state minimum wage and to be on the threshold of another one. This still leaves the low -wage worker with an extremely difficult housing situation..

Delaware Housing Coalition