May 10, 2015
If it seems harder to find your dream apartment – or afford it – you are not imagining things.
In Cuyahoga County, the overall demand for rental housing is increasing, according to a recently released report from the Cleveland-based Housing Research and Advocacy Center. The Housing Center’s analysis finds that while the county’s population dipped 8 percent between 2000 and 2010, those that remained and new residents showed an increasing preference for renting. In that time period, owner-occupied housing fell 8 percent and renter-occupied housing increased 1.3 percent.
Many previous homeowners have become renters as result of the foreclosure crisis, explained Michael Lepley, a research association at the Housing Center and one of the authors of “Rental Factbook: Cuyhogoa County.” In addition, a greater number of people today consider owning a home as a bigger financial risk than just a few years back.
“As a result, rental housing is in higher demand than it has been in a few decades,” he said.
More demand means higher prices, especially in downtown Cleveland and some of its popular inner-ring suburbs, Lepley added. And, while average rents were not significantly higher, growing from about $685 a month in 2000 to $698 a month in 2010, renters overall saw about an 18 percent drop in their income during the 10-year span studied. Less “buying power,” he said, is making it harder and harder for Clevelanders, especially low income renters and families, to find affordable housing.
In fact, nearly half of Cuyahoga County renters in 2010 spent more than 30 percent of their income on housing – qualifying them as “housing cost burdened.” Many housing assistance program are closed to new applicants due to long wait lists, and thousands of local renters don’t qualify for services anyhow. Still, they may be priced out of newer apartments and left to choose from older units and aging rental homes where rents are lower, according the Housing Center’s Senior Research Associate and report co-author Mandy Mehlman.
That’s a big problem for seniors and renters with disabilities, she said, since older housing is often less accessible for people with mobility impairments. “There may not be a bathroom on the first floor, for instance, and the doors and hallways tend to be too narrow, making it inaccessible for a wheelchair,” Mehlman said.
It’s a problem for all of us since older apartments are less efficient and more costly to maintain. Meanwhile, newer – more efficient – apartments built to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers tend to be located in communities with high demand and higher rents.
The authors said they hope the report fuels a much-needed discussion on the Cleveland housing crunch, which does not just impact low wage earners. If renter buying power continues to flag as the gap between affordable, aging housing and not-as-affordable, newer housing expands, a growing number of individuals and families will find themselves priced out of the communities where they currently live or want to live.
“We wanted to provide a clearer picture about what is going on,” Lepley said. “Hopefully, it will help raise awareness about issues impacting affordable housing and more people will take notice.”
To read “Rental Factbook: Cuyahoga County,” visit www.thehousingcenter.org and explore the publications link.
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