Natalie Sherman's recent article on apartment rental rates in Baltimore focused on high-end tenants but largely ignored the plight of low- and moderate-income individuals and families ("As apartments boom in city, a new market reality emerges," Feb. 27).
Although the article noted a recent study that found "when rental rates are compared to median income, Baltimore is one of the least affordable rental markets" in the country, the report neglected to mention some important realities:
•Millions of Americans struggle to find affordable housing, live in barely habitable sub-standard housing or have no place at all to call home.
•In Maryland, recent data show that nearly 10,000 households — some 30,000 people — are homeless and approximately 1 million people — more than 316,000 households — pay more than 30 percent of their household income on housing.
According federal data from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, for every 100 Maryland renter households at 30 percent of area median income, there are only 38 affordable housing units available.
Based on HUD guidelines, in order to afford a two-bedroom apartment, a Maryland renter household must earn nearly $25 an hour. The 2010 census data reveal that costs for Marylanders who rent continue to increase, from a median of $1,073 per household between 2007 and 2009 to $1,177 between 2010 and 2012. As a result, Maryland residents are paying an ever higher proportion of their income on rent and almost a quarter of state residents spent more than half their income on rent.
Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc., a nonprofit where I serve as executive director, receives dozens of inquiries from throughout Maryland to our Tenant-Landlord Hotline, from both landlords and tenants who are struggling with the challenge of rising rents and stagnant wages.
Landlords experiencing rising costs seek to raise their rental rates while tenants find themselves paying even more of their monthly income toward rent and are often faced with eviction and relocation as they try to make ends meet.
Still another consequence of the affordable housing shortage is the increased difficulty for people to save for down payments on a home. Thus the high rental payments prevent many renters from achieving the American Dream of homeownership.
Clearly there is no single solution to this affordable housing predicament. But the first step must be a collective recognition that the affordable housing shortage is affecting us all.
Robert J. Strupp, Baltimore
The writer is executive director of Baltimore Neighborhoods, Inc.