TRENTON, NJ (CBS) – An annual report on housing affordability nationwide shows New Jersey is the fourth most expensive state in which to rent a two-bedroom apartment.

Statewide, the survey conducted for the National Low Income Housing Coalition shows someone would have to earn just under $25 an hour in a 40-hour a week job to afford that unit. And two-thirds of the million or so renters in the Garden State don’t meet that benchmark.

Staci Berger, who represents the Housing and Community Development Network of New Jersey, says, “We have a very imbalanced housing market. It’s as if people went to the supermarket and the only thing they could buy was filet mignon and caviar.”

Why is that? Berger blames communities unwilling to meet the demand for affordable housing, paired with a state government unwilling to push for it. In our area, the average fair-market rent for that two-bedroom unit is just under $1,100 a month and three out of five people in Camden, Burlington and Gloucester Counties can’t afford it.

Reported by David Madden, KYW Newsradio 1060