Income, housing-costs gap wider than rest of state Monroe County professionals are paid 9 percent less than their statewide counterparts, and workers spend more of their paychecks on housing than financial experts recommend, leaving them “severely cost-burdened,” according to a report released today. Drafted by the Metropolitan Center at Florida International University, the report also found that Monroe County has lost 2,400 mobile homes at a time when the housing stock increased by 3 percent.

The Partnership for Community Housing and members of the Rodel Foundation, which sponsored the study, will meet today to review and discuss the report. The Partnership for Community Housing, which includes Key West Mayor Morgan McPherson, was set up to create and research affordable housing ideas.

One of the report’s authors, Ned Murray, plans to hold a series of presentations on the study with planning officials and planning boards from various Florida Keys municipalities. A copy of the report, called the Affordable Housing Needs Assessment, has been sent to Paul Clayton, affordable housing coordinator for the city of Key West. Ed Block, chairman of the Partnership for Community Housing, said the report is specific. “This confirms what we already know, but this goes into the gory details,” he said. “[Creating affordable housing] is a daunting task. The shortfalls are enormous.”

Since 2000, the Keys have lost 14 percent of workers ages 20 to 54, while seasonal residents and retirees have increased by 15 percent. The county has lost 2,024 workers, or 5 percent of its work force, since 2000. “It will be difficult to replace younger-worker households given the combination of low wage employment and high priced real estate,” the report states. “Monroe County’s median single-family home value to median household income ratio is an astonishing 12-to-1.” In Miami, Dade and Palm Beach counties, the ratio is 7- to-1.

The standard ratio most mortgage lenders and housing professionals use is that housing expenses should not exceed 30 percent of a household’s gross monthly income. The study found that 57 percent of Monroe County homeowners are earning less than the county’s median income of $52,000 a year and are spending more than 50 percent of their income on their mortgages. About 85 percent of renters are earning less than $52,000 and also paying more than 50 percent of their incomes on rent, the study states.

The average monthly Keys median income was $4,339, which would make $1,302 a 30 percent average rent. The median rent for the Upper Keys is $2,250, for the Middle Keys, $2,500, and for the Lower Keys, it’s $1,600. This equates to the average Upper Keys worker paying $948 more than the 30 percent, the Middle Keys worker paying $1,198 more, and the Lower Keys worker shelling out $298 more, the study states. The average wage in Monroe County is “significantly” less — 9 percent — than the rest of the state, the report says. The average weekly wage for the Keys in 2007 was $695, $17.13 per hour or $35,620 annually. The average for the state is $763 or $39,676 a year, the study states.

The report also showed the county added 6,236 single-family homes and 4,408 multifamily homes, but lost 2,400 mobile homes — one of the Keys’ last bastions of work-force housing. The county has placed a moratorium on the redevelopment of mobile home parks until planners can write land-use regulations that address and possibly mitigate the losses. “Monroe County’s high rent values can be attributed to the loss of its inventory, including mobile homes, which has created a supply and demand imbalance,” the report states. Block hopes the study will be updated and used in the future, he said. “It is set up so it can be replicated periodically to see if we are making progress,” Block said. “It’s a good blueprint or roadmap for city planners and other people working with affordable housing issues.”