South Florida ranks among the highest ‘cost-burdened’ rental markets, study says

Lisa J. Huriash, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
·5 min read

South Florida remains one of the top locations nationwide where renters must pay an ever-increasing amount of their income for a place to live, a study shows.

More than 12 million renters across the United States are “severely” cost-burdened as of 2022, the latest data, or paying more than half their income for rent and utilities, according to a January study by the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies.

Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach and Miami is one study cluster with nearly 35% of renters considered “severely” cost burdened.

While their median household income is $50,000, monthly rental housing costs are at nearly $1,700. That’s well above some of the most traditionally expensive places to live such as Honolulu, Washington, D.C., San Francisco and New York City, the study said.

The high costs are an issue that Anna Henry says she copes with.

Working as a campus monitor for a Broward public elementary school, she takes home about $1,800 a month — barely enough to pay her portion of public housing rent at $465 and still have enough left for her car and food and incidentals, she said.

But when she raised issues with the landlord over mold, her lease was not renewed at her Pompano Beach apartment in February, she said. With the cost of rent of other units on the market, she has been unable to find a new apartment, she said. She’s now sleeping in her car, and showering at the home of family and friends, she said.

“It’s not possible to work three jobs,” she said. “It’s a nightmare.”

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According to the Harvard study, there are even more Broward and Miami area renters who are cost burdened (those who pay 30% to 50% of income for rent and utilities) than “severely” cost burdened (who spend more than half their salary on housing). There are nearly 61.9% of renters who are “cost burdened,” according to the study.

That makes South Florida among the most expensive places to live in the country.

The study identifies only a handful of areas more burdensome for renters, which include Port St. Lucie, with almost 64% of renters cost burdened. It also lists Gainesville and Homosassa Springs at more than 62%. Naples/Marco island come in at 64.3% and State College, Pa., is at 63.1%.

In 2022, half of all renters nationwide were cost burdened, spending more than 30% of their income on housing, which is an increase of 2 million households over three years “and entirely offsets the modest improvements in cost-burden rates recorded between 2014 and 2019,” according to the report.

Identifying affordable housing solutions

Palm Beach County was not singled out in the study but the affording housing need remains strong there: In 2022, voters approved a $200 million bond item dedicated for affordable housing.

Palm Beach County has discussed creating 20,000 units of workforce and affordable housing by 2023.

Workers are struggling, and that’s making it harder for employers to find staff “to both recruit and retain,” said Ralph Stone, Broward County’s director of the Housing Finance Division. “There are employees who are making a decision to leave because housing costs are too high,” he said.

So, efforts are underway in Broward County to make a dent in the problem, where there is an estimated shortage of nearly 73,000 affordable houses, and another 74,000-unit gap of rental apartments.

Here are just some of the initiatives underway:

  • This month, Broward County commissioners adopted a 10-year master plan to tackle affordable housing woes by allocating money for new construction that will generate about $8 million in the first year, and allow for more density for new development near rail corridors where there are “redevelopment opportunities” and a location which can make it easier for people to get to work. The eventual plan, which will be revisited each year, is to provide enough developer financial incentives to build 1,000 units each year for the next three decades, Stone said.

  • In Oakland Park, the City Commission in February gave tentative approval for a 469-unit affordable housing project to be constructed that will be called “Village at Oakland Park.” The Sky Building, where all 140 units will be affordable rents, is under construction. And the Horizon of Oakland Park, is a planned project where 10% of the approximately 310 units will be rented at affordable caps.

  • Pinnacle at La Cabaña, a 110-unit affordable housing development for seniors, is under construction in Miramar. The rent is anticipated to be between $1,100 and $1,400 a month.

  • Affordable housing will open in Hollywood within the next 45 days as “Pinnacle 441 Phase 1.” That project will have 113 units.

Since 2018, Broward County has awarded $123 million in “gap financing” — a zero-percent interest loan to the developer to encourage affordable housing construction. That has resulted in development of 2,668 affordable units.

That includes seven projects under construction now in Pembroke Pines, Pompano Beach, Hollywood and Fort Lauderdale, where 150 units out of 195 being built at Related Fat Village will be set aside for affordable housing.

The rents for all of these homes will attract low-income workers. “This is where the most need is,” Stone said, with workers generally earning $40,000 a year or less. Affordable housing rent will be based on a formula using their income and how many people are in the family. Some families will pay $700 or $800 a month to live in these homes, Stone said. None would be required to pay more than a third of their income on housing.

According to the Harvard study, the rental units available nationwide are aging and nearly 4 million renter households “live in physically inadequate units.”

Worse, rent increases are outpacing income gains. In 2022, median rents were 21% higher than they were in 2001, while renters’ incomes have risen just 2 percent during the same period, according to the report. And asking rents still remain “well above pre-pandemic levels.”

While states and cities have tried to fill the gaps, “a larger commitment from the federal government is required to expand housing supports and preserve and improve the existing affordable stock,” said Chris Herbert, managing director of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies in a prepared statement. “Only then will the nation finally make a meaningful dent in the housing affordability crisis making life so difficult for millions of people.”

Lisa J. Huriash can be reached at lhuriash@sunsentinel.com. Follow on X, formerly Twitter, @LisaHuriash