She says over 40 percent of those displaced were renters, and of these, 41 percent earned less than $15,000 annually and 67 percent earned under $30,000. She says: “Where have these working families gone? Or, better yet, where can they go in Ocean County? A two-bedroom rental in the county runs about $1,373 a month, for which households must earn $4,362 monthly, or $52,547 annually — the equivalent of three full-time minimum-wage jobs.”
She adds that 59.1 percent of renters are paying over 30 percent for housing, causing a drain on local food banks. Assistance from the government only provided for 72 affordable housing units.
She offers manufactured homes as one type of housing for the displaced workers, but says, “For any of this to happen we need land and municipal zoning for these homes, and the moral and political will on the part of each of us to speak out for housing for those who serve us, those who make our lives easier, those whose voices are so often silenced.”
As MHProNews has noted in several stories, many damaged and destroyed homes were replaced with modular homes, but this does present an opportunity for manufactured housing advocacy. ##
(Photo credit: CNNNews–aftermath of Hurricane Sandy)
