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Samantha Hayes ReportingIf you have been in the Utah housing market recently you know how difficult it can be not only to find what you want but to afford what you want. It's an especially trying situation for a growing number of people being priced out of the American Dream.
When you own a house it's great to see the cost of housing in Salt Lake City increase at 20 percent a year, but for low income families their dreams of a home slip farther and farther away. For some families the American Dream is a dazzling reality-
Pat Morgan, Living in Mobile Home Park: "I moved in here 29 years ago. Just this little mobile home park and a few older homes."
Morgan and her children struggle to afford mobile homes. They scrimp and save but their little piece of the pie will most likely never be permanent.
Pat Morgan: "And one person in a family isn't able to work anymore, it takes both the mother and father."
It takes exactly fifteen dollars an hour. That's what local affordable housing advocates estimate, and they argue that fifteen dollars is higher than the national average.
Tim Funk, Crossroads Urban Center: "There are 2.6 million people in the state and about a third are having trouble, major housing troubles."
We compared that local estimate with data from the Economic Research Institute, which shows housing is increasingly difficult for young people too, specifically college graduates.
Knoxville Tennessee is ranked the most affordable. The salary level there is 8 percent below the national average but cost of living is 21 percent below the national average. It's no surprise New York City is the least affordable.
Salt Lake City is now among less affordable cities, ranking near Columbus, Ohio and Lexington, Kentucky.
Tim Funk: "Right now housing in Utah is becoming more expensive by the month."
Local organization like the Crossroads Urban Center would like to see the state's budget surplus, which was announced today, used toward removing the remaining sales tax on food and funding Olene Walker's housing trust fund.
