Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 5 · column 4 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
This is the first in a series of articles exploring housing issues in Rappahannock County
By Christopher Moyles Special to the Rappahannock News
Have you ever wondered what “affordable housing” really means? A recent Preliminary Housing Needs Assessment for Rappahannock county, available at .makes some interesting comparisons.
For example, it would take approximately 72 percent of the average Rappahannock teacher’s monthly income to afford the mortgage on a one to two bedroom home at Rappahannock’s 2006 average sale price of $325,000.
Home rental listings for Rappahannock found in local newspapers, from December 2006 through February 2007, average out at $1,141 per month. HUD guidelines estimate an additional $125 per month in utility costs, for a total housing expense of $1,266 per month.
The standard guideline for housing costs, either rental or mortgage, is equal to 33 percent of a household’s total income. The household income needed to afford the average Rappahannock rental and utilities price would be $45,576 a year, $876.46 a week, or approximately $21.90 an hour, for a single wage-earner family.
The Virginia Employment Commission data for the second quarter of 2006 shows the average county wage to be $731 a week. The average drops to $615 per week if the “Information” category, at $3,025 per week, is not included.
These rough statistics show the growing gap between workforce wages and housing costs in Rappahannock County. In addition, there is a large amount of anecdotal evidence reported by local social service agencies, the local government,
93.8%