San Diego’s poor pay 95% of family income for rent

At a time when the current Washington D.C. administration is proposing deep cuts in housing welfare, the staggering rent costs for low-income San Diegans merits focus.

According to a Zillow release this week, low-income San Diego County renters a year ago were paying 94.9 percent of median household income for rent. That compared with 40.3 percent for the typical local household.

San Diego’s 94.9 percent last year compared with 95.9 percent in San Francisco, 121.2 in Los Angeles, 99.5 in San Jose and 62.7 in the nation.

This week, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson proposed that tenants in subsidized housing should pay rent that is 35 percent of their gross income, up from 30 percent now. (Carson’s income figures are not comparable with Zillow’s.) Carson’s proposal is part of the administration’s “Welfare Reform 2.0,” which would slice Medicaid, food stamps, and public housing benefits to low-income people.