WORCESTER, Mass. - A new report shows people in Massachusetts earning minimum wage would have to work 87 hours a week to comfortably afford a one-bedroom apartment on their own. 

The National Low Income Housing Coalition's annual Out of Reach report keeps track of the growing gap between renters' wages and the cost of keeping a roof over their head. By their metrics, Massachusetts stands just behind California and Hawaii as the worst state to be a renter. 

The City of Worcester fared better than the state as a whole. The report found renters looking to afford a one-bedroom apartment in the city would need to make 22 dollars per hour, compared to the statewide average of 30. 

Acting City Manager Eric Batista believes it's the responsibility of local government to ensure new apartment buildings include affordable units, which is why he hopes the city moves forward in implementing a policy to mandate it. 

"The inclusionary zoning ordinance will help us create some benchmarks, some standards in place as we work with developers," said Batista. "As we work with the investors who are looking to build this housing, we're doing it in a way that's also prudent to ensure that we provide options for our community."

Batista said funding from the American Rescue Plan Act could help incentivize the construction of new affordable housing if some of it is made available to developers who include affordable units in their plans. 

"We felt as though providing these resources to the community or to these developers or private landlords who go and build a market rate doesn't really fulfill the mission we're trying to acheive here as a city," said Batista. "And so I think this is a good tool that would help us acheive what we want to get to."

In a city with limiated space for new projects, Batista said it's important to get creative with what's already there.

“A lot of the development and the proposed options that are coming to us is sometimes taking those existing buildings and converting them," said Batista. "Taking an old industrial building and converting that into housing spaces, there’s some challenges with that, but there’s some opportunities as well because those buildings, the bones of those buildings are pretty structured so it allows for developers to come in much more quickly rather than try to raise something brand new.”

For more information on the Out of Reach report and to find housing statistics for your region of the state, visit the National Low Income Housing Coalition website.