By John Haughey
(The Center Square) – South Carolina median household incomes increased by 51% between 2016-19 while average rent costs increased by 81% and home values by 90%, according to a report published Tuesday by the state’s housing finance and development agency, SC Housing.
The divergence fostered by stagnant wages and increasing housing costs tagged South Carolina with the nation’s highest eviction rate in some studies, estimated to be as high as a 25.7% of all renters in 2019, crowding courts with 151,000 eviction proceedings that year.
The state’s affordable housing problem has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, SC Housing said. It warns a wave of evictions and foreclosures await without immediate action by state and federal lawmakers and without addressing affordable housing in a long-term strategic fashion.
“Even before the pandemic occurred, people were living on the edge,” SC Housing spokesperson Chris Winston said after the release of a 22-page report included in a South Carolina Housing Needs Assessment.
The average wage in 40 of the state’s 46 counties in 2019 was too low to afford a two-bedroom apartment, the report said. That is likely to remain the same despite the pandemic, SC Housing said.
“One thing that did not change, however, is the reality that the cost of housing is increasing in our state and the amount of money that people earn to pay for housing is not on the same trajectory,” the needs assessment read. “Indeed, those in the working class were hit hardest in 2020, as many low-wage service jobs in sectors like hospitality, food service, and personal care were lost due to safety restrictions and reduced demand. The full picture of need is still unclear, but it is substantial.”
“There are a lot of conversations about how the pandemic disrupted lives and affected so many people’s ability to make rent and mortgage payments,” said SC Housing Chief Research Officer Dr. Bryan Grady, lead author of the report. “But we can see from the data that too many South Carolina residents were spending more than they could afford on housing and utilities even before the pandemic. That is a systemic issue in our state and it is not sustainable. The pandemic has made that very clear.”
Eviction rates for 2020 were not included in the report in because of moratoriums, but Grady said the state must take action now to prevent them in the short-term while also sustaining a long-range focus on affordable housing investments.
“Increasing the quantity and density of housing can help to drive the price down across the board,” Grady said. “These are the kinds of decisions that are made on the local level in planning committees and zoning boards so it’s important for people to be aware of the challenges we’re facing.”
Citing data from the South Carolina Association of Realtors, the report documented the number of sales pending in December for homes costing $100,000 or less plunged by 33% statewide compared with December 2019.
Homes priced between $100,001 to $150,000 declined by 25.7%, and those priced between $150,001 to $200,000 were down 6.7%.
Collectively, 8,109 fewer home sales were pending at $200,000 or less across the state in December than in the previous December.
Meanwhile, according to SC Realtors, homes valued between $200,001 to $300,000 increased by 13.6% and those $300,001 and above by 34.5%.
“What this shows is that there is very little inventory, overall,” Grady said. “If there’s not an effort to have more housing, and a wider variety of housing, you’re going to continue to keep seeing this.”
Other findings:
• 24% of South Carolina renters spend more than half their gross income on rent;
• 13,000 public school students don’t have a permanent residence;
• There is a lack of construction of middle-income housing such as duplexes, triplexes and smaller single-family homes.
