ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — It is getting more expensive to live in Saint Johns County. Just ask anyone in the working class looking for a home.
"I work three," Amanda Raulerson said.
Three, as in three jobs. That's how much Raulerson has to work right now to make ends meet.
"I have multiple hustles to pay my rent," she said.
Raulerson moved back to St. Augustine to be close to family recently, but she struggled to find an affordable place to rent.
"A lot of the stuff I looked at I couldn't afford," she said. "And I came with money saved, ready to move in somewhere."
She could afford a one bedroom priced under a thousand dollars. However, a rental at $1,000 or less is rare in St. Augustine. She looked for two months.
"I was sleeping on my friend's couch, wanting to pull my hair out," she said.
That's all while she was working more than full time.
"I was really nervous," she nodded.
More and more of the working class are finding themselves in similar situations as Raulerson when looking for places in St. Johns County. They are unable to find homes they can afford. Teachers, people in the tourism business and a nurse who "couldn't find anything under $900 a month that was decent, safe, and sanitary," Bill Lazar said.
Lazar leads the St. Johns Housing Partnership. He said these are people who are NOT on welfare.
"These are folks working full time, plus," he said."They're people who are, some of them are working more than one full-time job."
According to recent housing survey, a person in St. Johns County needs to make a little more than $18 an hour, which is a lot more than minimum wage, in order to afford a 2 bedroom rental without spending more than 30 percent of his income.
"I finally found something," Raulerson said.
She ended up finding a mobile home for $950 a month in southern St. Johns County. A county where the price of living is getting higher and "wages are low, jobs are few and the rentals that are legitimate are scarce," she said.