New census figures released Tuesday show rent and mortgage payments eating up a larger portion of household income in Baltimore city than just a few years ago.
In 2002, the earliest available date for the information, 37 percent of Baltimore renters spent 30 percent or more of their income on housing. By 2005, that figure jumped to 52 percent. Statewide, about 45 percent of renters spent 30 percent or more on housing costs in 2005.
For homeowners in Baltimore, the number spending more than 30 percent of household income on their mortgages rose from 31 percent in 2002 to 34 percent in 2005, the third highest in the state. Throughout Maryland, the percent of homeowners spending 30 percent or more of their household income on a mortgage rose from 25 percent in 2002 to 31 percent in 2005.
Economists say spending 30 percent or less of monthly income on housing is affordable.
Those figures make Baltimore?s onerous property taxes ? twice as high as surrounding jurisdictions ? even more of a burden than they were a few years ago.
Mayor Martin O?Malley recently launched a program to help city homeowners avoid foreclosure ? a problem that has cost the city $1.8 billion in reduced property values over the past two years, according to a study for the Goldseker Foundation, which supports local charities. (Residents can call 311 for referrals to credit counseling.)
While welcome, the better solution would be to prevent the situation altogether by making home ownership more affordable in the city. That means dropping property tax rates to levels more on par with surrounding counties and cutting municipal operating payrolls and other costs to allow for the tax cut.
Maybe then the city could boast a growing population instead of one that?s now almost leveling off.
And those struggling to make rent payments, the young people we?re trying to both keep and attract, could invest in buying a home and be able to make payments and pay taxes.
