About
Income, housing data paint an expensive picture
Krystal Sarcone was born in Beacon and raised in Cortlandt Manor before leaving for graduate school and a public health career.
With dozens of family members still living in Beacon, Sarcone said she always planned to return and buy a home. But during her searches over the last five years, she's encountered "astronomical" prices, whether renting or buying. Last year, she found a rental in Orange County and is now renting in Wappingers Falls. In both places, she said the rent amounted to 50 percent of her income.
"I've seen the numbers double and quadruple" while looking for housing in Beacon, she said. "The scales have just tipped. It's impossible."
She recalled several years ago staying in a short-term rental in Newburgh over the holidays and breaking down after realizing, "Oh my God, I may never be able to come home."
Sarcone's experience aligns with findings from Out of Reach, an annual housing report published by Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress. Combining research by the National Low Income Housing Coalition with "fair-market rent" figures calculated annually by the federal government, home sales and regional income data, Pattern for Progress concluded that "unaffordable housing is no longer an emerging condition or a temporary disruption; it has become a defining feature of the regional economy."
Pattern's study encompasses the nine-county Hudson Valley region, which we've narrowed to Dutchess, Putnam and adjacent counties. The report doesn't drill down to the municipal level, but Alexandra Obremski, the Pattern president and CEO, notes that in some areas, conditions can be "much, much worse."
Except in Putnam County, hourly wages have risen since 2020, when adjusted for inflation. However, even the highest jump, in Dutchess, is less than half the 29.5 percent national inflation increase over the same period, according to federal data. Conditions are worse in Putnam, where wages fell while rents rose by 15 percent.
Those gaps are borne out in this chart, which shows double-digit chasms between what renters earn on average and what a modest apartment costs. In Putnam, the gap is staggering: A renter would need to make $35 more per hour to pay for a one-bedroom without being cost-burdened, which the federal government defines as a household that spends more than 30 percent of its gross income on housing, including utilities. For a two-bedroom unit in Putnam, the gap is more than $40 per hour.
Statewide, where 46 percent of households are renting, the hourly wage gap for a one-bedroom apartment is $8.59. Of all 62 counties, Putnam is second worst, at $35.33, and Dutchess is No. 15, at $9.92.
Fair-market rents in Dutchess are at the cost-burdened level for two-bedroom apartments and well above it for one-bedroom units. Putnam blows past the threshold; a renter earning the average wage of $15.73 per hour would spend nearly all of their income on a one-bedroom.
Looking at annual salaries, the wage gap appears even more pronounced. At a minimum, the gap between wages and housing costs is $20,640 in Dutchess County and, on the high end, $83,688 in Putnam. In other words, a renter would have to work up to 3.6 jobs or 142 hours per week to spend only 30 percent of their income on housing — obviously unattainable numbers.
If homeownership is the goal, how can anyone save for a down payment when "somebody would need 1.5 jobs [in Dutchess] just to afford a modest apartment," Obremski asked.
For homeowners, assuming a 6 percent down payment, the difference between the mortgage a two-person household earning the median income qualifies for and the loan needed to buy a home at the median price is $157,383 in Dutchess and $310,330 in Putnam.
Pattern suggests municipalities redevelop land they own and examine zoning laws to encourage housing that meets residents' needs. In smaller locales such as Cold Spring and Philipstown, where planning boards receive fewer residential developm...
Krystal Sarcone was born in Beacon and raised in Cortlandt Manor before leaving for graduate school and a public health career.
With dozens of family members still living in Beacon, Sarcone said she always planned to return and buy a home. But during her searches over the last five years, she's encountered "astronomical" prices, whether renting or buying. Last year, she found a rental in Orange County and is now renting in Wappingers Falls. In both places, she said the rent amounted to 50 percent of her income.
"I've seen the numbers double and quadruple" while looking for housing in Beacon, she said. "The scales have just tipped. It's impossible."
She recalled several years ago staying in a short-term rental in Newburgh over the holidays and breaking down after realizing, "Oh my God, I may never be able to come home."
Sarcone's experience aligns with findings from Out of Reach, an annual housing report published by Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress. Combining research by the National Low Income Housing Coalition with "fair-market rent" figures calculated annually by the federal government, home sales and regional income data, Pattern for Progress concluded that "unaffordable housing is no longer an emerging condition or a temporary disruption; it has become a defining feature of the regional economy."
Pattern's study encompasses the nine-county Hudson Valley region, which we've narrowed to Dutchess, Putnam and adjacent counties. The report doesn't drill down to the municipal level, but Alexandra Obremski, the Pattern president and CEO, notes that in some areas, conditions can be "much, much worse."
Except in Putnam County, hourly wages have risen since 2020, when adjusted for inflation. However, even the highest jump, in Dutchess, is less than half the 29.5 percent national inflation increase over the same period, according to federal data. Conditions are worse in Putnam, where wages fell while rents rose by 15 percent.
Those gaps are borne out in this chart, which shows double-digit chasms between what renters earn on average and what a modest apartment costs. In Putnam, the gap is staggering: A renter would need to make $35 more per hour to pay for a one-bedroom without being cost-burdened, which the federal government defines as a household that spends more than 30 percent of its gross income on housing, including utilities. For a two-bedroom unit in Putnam, the gap is more than $40 per hour.
Statewide, where 46 percent of households are renting, the hourly wage gap for a one-bedroom apartment is $8.59. Of all 62 counties, Putnam is second worst, at $35.33, and Dutchess is No. 15, at $9.92.
Fair-market rents in Dutchess are at the cost-burdened level for two-bedroom apartments and well above it for one-bedroom units. Putnam blows past the threshold; a renter earning the average wage of $15.73 per hour would spend nearly all of their income on a one-bedroom.
Looking at annual salaries, the wage gap appears even more pronounced. At a minimum, the gap between wages and housing costs is $20,640 in Dutchess County and, on the high end, $83,688 in Putnam. In other words, a renter would have to work up to 3.6 jobs or 142 hours per week to spend only 30 percent of their income on housing — obviously unattainable numbers.
If homeownership is the goal, how can anyone save for a down payment when "somebody would need 1.5 jobs [in Dutchess] just to afford a modest apartment," Obremski asked.
For homeowners, assuming a 6 percent down payment, the difference between the mortgage a two-person household earning the median income qualifies for and the loan needed to buy a home at the median price is $157,383 in Dutchess and $310,330 in Putnam.
Pattern suggests municipalities redevelop land they own and examine zoning laws to encourage housing that meets residents' needs. In smaller locales such as Cold Spring and Philipstown, where planning boards receive fewer residential developm...