Income

Meeting basic needs and establishing financial stability 

The Challenges:

• To afford the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in central Maryland, people earning minimum wage must work 3.2 full-time jobs.
• Twenty percent of Marylanders are paying more than half of their monthly income towards rental costs.
• More than 17,000 people were served in central Maryland homeless shelters last year. Nearly 23 percent of them were under the age of 17.
  *Sources: National Low Income Housing Coalition, U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, 2006 State of Maryland Department of Human Resources

The Work in 2007:

• Nearly 400 central Marylanders moved from non-permanent housing to safe, affordable housing, and remained there for at least a year.
• More than 2,100 individuals received the skills and services they needed to obtain permanent housing.
• In United Way programs, ninety percent of individuals with incomes below 300 percent of the federal poverty line increased their earnings as a result of receiving necessary skills and services.

The Vision for central Maryland:

Over time, we want people in the region – particularly those living in poverty - to be able to afford safe housing and access other critical necessities.