Samuel Gunter of the NC Carolina Housing Coalition on the state’s dire affordable housing shortage
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Samuel Gunter, executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition.
You don’t have to be policy wonk with an affinity for crunching numbers to understand that North Carolina faces a dire shortage of affordable housing. One need merely talk to friends and family members – even those with middle class incomes – to understand that the picture is bleak when it comes to finding affordable rental housing, much less homeownership opportunities.
That said, the numbers are bleak. The National Low Income Housing Coalition recently released a report entitled “Out of Reach: The High Cost of Housing” and it demonstrates how the wages that millions of hourly workers are earning don’t come close to what’s necessary. In North Carolina, a full-time worker must earn a minimum of $27.14 per hour to afford a modest, two-bedroom apartment.
So, how did we get here, how are policies in Washington deepening the crisis and what should we be doing? Recently, Newsline got a chance to explore these questions and more in an extended conversation with the executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition, Samuel Gunter.
Click here to listen to the full interview with Samuel Gunter.
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