By Taxpayers Association of Oregon Foundation
According to the Oregon Office of Econoimic Analysis, 21 percent of Oregon renter households in the state were living in poverty, and 44 percent of rental households spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Fifty-four percent of renters do not have enough income left over after paying rent to afford basics, and 63 percent of rental households have incomes below MIT’s Living Wage calculation for Oregon. Hundreds of thousands of Oregon households struggle with high housing costs relative to their incomes.
The Office also found that many Oregon homeowners with a mortgage struggle with high housing costs. Four percent of homeowners have incomes below the poverty line. Twenty percent of homeowners spend more than 30 percent of their income on their mortgage, and/or do not have enough income left over after paying their mortgage(s). Thirty-one percent of Oregon homeowners earn incomes below MIT’s Living Wage calculation.
