Families in Transition
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The Issues of Homelessness

Did You Know?

Increased rental costs coupled with stagnant wages are the main barriers to obtaining and keeping safe affordable housing.

  • Affordable Housing is defined as spending less than 30% or less of monthly income on housing (with utilities included).(NH Economic and Labor Market Bureau)
  • The "Housing wage" (wage needed for affordable housing) for New Hampshire is $18.81 an hour. (NH Economic and, Labor Market Bureau)
  • Sixty-five percent of newly created jobs will pay less than the housing wage.(NH Economic, and Labor Market Bureau) 
  • Rents have increased more than 37% over the last five years in Southern New Hampshire. (NH Economic and Labor Market Bureau) 
  • The average median rent in Manchester is over $1,000 per month. (NH Economic and Labor Market Bureau) 
  • A person earning minimum wage in New Hampshire ($5.15/hour) in 2002 would have paid 99.5% of their income for rent on a two-bedroom apartment. (Child Welfare League of America)
  • Homeless shelter providers in 2004 in New Hampshire gave temporary housing to 6,672 persons in 2004, up 14% from 2003. Over 1,000 of those were adults, (usually mothers) living in families with children. (Homeless in New Hampshire, the Annual Report of New Hampshire's Emergency Shelter and Homeless, Coordination Commission for 2004)