Arizona’s housing shortage has drawn more attention than ever before in recent months, prompting a stack of dream-big legislation, newly energized activism and a mayoral race that emphasized each candidate’s plan to keep Phoenix affordable.

And yet the state continues to slide deeper into unaffordable territory.

An Arizona renter with a minimum-wage job must now work 71 hours to afford a modest two-bedroom home, according to a report released Tuesday by the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In the Phoenix metro area, that figure rises to 75 hours of labor.

Under a widely accepted standard for affordability, a household should spend no more than 30 percent of its income on housing costs.

The NLIHC report assumes a median two-bedroom rent of $898 across Arizona, rising to just under $1,000 in the Phoenix metro area. The state's minimum wage is $11 an hour.

That means a two-bedroom home or apartment is unaffordable for most full-time employees working as receptionists, security guards, construction workers, customer service representatives and medical assistants.

Put another way, a worker in Arizona renting a two-bedroom home would need to earn more than $40,000 a year to stay within the guideline of spending no more than 30% of annual wages on housing, the report said.

In metro Phoenix workers would need to earn more than $42,000 a year to rent a two-bedroom home without exceeding the 30% threshold. In Flagstaff, the most expensive city, that figure is nearly $50,000 a year.

The findings in the report place Arizona squarely in the center of a nation that’s been forced to grapple with the consequences of rising rents and stagnant wages. In the report’s ranking of the least affordable states, Arizona ranked No. 23.

Nationwide, an employee working for the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour must work almost three full-time jobs — 127 hours a week — to afford a two-bedroom home.

“This report, coupled with the additional resources the state has designated for housing for 2020, makes it clear that housing stability is one of the greatest concerns for working families all across Arizona,” said Joan Serviss, executive director of the Arizona Housing Coalition, in a statement. “And that won’t happen if full-time jobs aren't paying enough to cover rent.”

HOUSING COSTS:Phoenix is not the West's most affordable city anymore

Tuesday’s report only adds to the grim picture that is Arizona’s affordable housing landscape. Development is booming, but so is homelessness. The growth of downtown Phoenix is paving over neighborhoods once considered affordable. Maricopa County’s Justice Courts process more evictions every year.

Another NLICH report, released earlier this year, ranked Arizona as the third-worst state for affordable housing. The report found that Arizona has just 25 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income rental households.

In response, housing advocates had circled 2019 as a make-or-break year. They spent the legislative session pushing for increased funding for homeless services, more housing for people with serious mental illnesses and a removal of a cap on the Housing Trust Fund, which crippled one of Arizona’s most versatile resources.

But when the session adjourned in late May, advocates could claim only one major victory — a one-time boost of $15 million into the Housing Trust Fund.

“It’s definitely a compromise from what we were hoping to get,” Arizona Housing Coalition spokesman Camaron Stevenson said. “But it’s $15 million better than what we had last year.”

Reach reporter Alden Woods at awoods@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8829. Follow him on Twitter @ac_woods.

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