Washington County

Affordable housing gives people the opportunity to build better lives. When households are forced to pay more than 30 percent of their incomes on housing, basic necessities are often out of reach. What is the result? Many families overburdened by housing cost experience hunger or worry about where their next meal will come from. They are also unlikely to have access to medical or dental care when they need it or the ability to pay for medical prescriptions.

This chart illustrates how the definition of affordable housing varies widely. What all of the listed income levels have in common is that fair market housing costs are not affordable. For a one bedroom unit the $638 Fair Market Rent (FMR) is out of reach; households needing a two-bedroom unit at $737 have an even greater descrepancy between income and affordability.

People priced out of the housing market include low to moderate income working families, seniors and people with disabilities. Whether working people are making minimum wage or a few dollars an hour more, they struggle to make ends meet. Seniors and disabled people relying on Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a Veteran's pension or Social Security are priced well out of market reate housing.

The following charts illustrate the income necessary to afford one and two bedroom units.

Affordable housing is good for the entire community. It serves families, seniors and people with disabilities. In order to have complete communities, people of diverse economic and racial backgrounds must be able to live together. That means, a range of housing options must be available to meet diverse needs, including those of families, senior citizens and people with special needs. Complete communities are those which have housing choices where people are able to live close to employment opportunities, community services, and public transportation. People can become close to their neighbors or fellow community members who may help with things like grocery shopping, home maintenance and trips to the doctor.

Affordable housing is also beneficial to the community because it revitalizes distressed areas and allows low income people to live in areas that would have been outside of their reach, making comunities more diverse. It allows people to live closer to where they work, helping to reduce commuter traffic and improving air quality. It is also economically beneficial to the community, because people tend to purchase consumer goods close to where they live and the number of local jobs is increased. In addition, affordable housing helps decrease public expenditures because it provides stable living situations for people who are homeless and have special needs.