  Affordable Housing Week
May 11th to May 17th, 2008
|
Affordable Housing Terms Affordable: Housing is considered 'affordable" when the household renting or buying it pays no more than 30 of its gross income for housing costs, (see "Housing Costs"). Area Median Income (AMI): This is the income amount at which half of the population of a given area (usually a city or county) earns more than the amount and half of the population earns less. AMI varies for different household sizes. Sonoma County Four-person household: $74,500. Extremely Low Income Household: Generally, a household whose income is below 30% of the area median income, adjusted for family size. Sonoma County Four-person household: $22,550; One-person household: $15,800 Housing Costs: The total cost of rent plus utilities: or mortgage, property tax and insurance plus utilities. Homeowner association dues, if any, are also included. Housing Unit: A dwelling space intended for occupancy by a person or household, including one or more bedrooms, depending on family size and characteristics. Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program: Federal and State housing subsidy programs that give tax credits or reductions in income tax liability as incentives for investments in affordable housing developments. The federal government allocates tax credit amounts to states based on population. This is a leading source of affordable rental housing subsidy. Lower (or Low) Income Household: Generally, a household whose income does not exceed 80% of the area median income, adjusted for family size. Sonoma County Four-person household; $59,600; One-person household: $41,700. Market Rate Price: Highest amount that a property will bring for sale or rent in a given-area without affordability restrictions. Median home price: The sales price which is the midpoint of all homes sales prices, e.g. half the homes for sale are higher and half are lower. In Sonoma County, it was about $550,00 in February 2007. Median rent: The rent which is the midpoint of all rentals (or all rentals of a particular number of bedrooms). The average 2 bedroom rent in Sonoma County in April 2007 was estimated to be $1,060. Moderate Income Household: Generally, a household whose income is between 80 and 120 of the area median income, adjusted for family size. Sonoma County Four-person household; $89,400 maximum Very Low Income Household: Generally, a household whose income does not exceed 50 of the area median income, adjusted for family size. Sonoma County Four-person household: $37,550; One-person household: $26,300. Workforce Housing: Housing intended to serve non-management employees.
How to Find Affordable Housing Many affordable apartments are rented without ever having been advertised. Make sure to tell people you know that you are looking for an apartment. Contact the property management companies that rent to your family and friends, as well as people who live in the neighborhood in which you are interested. For example, ask the letter carrier, local store owners and neighbors if they know of someone who is moving out. Remember that many landlords would rather rent to someone who is referred by someone they know. Common Barriers to Securing Housing and Possible Solutions I HAVE BAD CREDIT! NO ONE WILL ACCEPT MY SECTION 8 VOUCHER! WHAT IS SUPPORTIVE HOUSING? THE GOAL OF SUPPORTIVE HOUSING: INDEPENDENCE The goal of supportive housing is to enable the tenant to live a stable, independent life. This is a condition almost impossible to achieve in the absence of permanent, affordable housing and very difficult for many people with disabilities to achieve without a level of supportive help at the right times. As a result, many people without permanent housing or service supports end up in a "revolving door" in and out of homelessness, from the streets, to shelters, to hospital emergency rooms, to treatment facilities, and back again - all at significant cost to the individual, the State and the taxpayers. return to top of page WHAT IS AFFORDABLE HOUSING? "Affordable Housing" means a home or apartment that a person or family can pay for out of their income and still have enough money left over for food, transportation, health care and clothing. A widely accepted measure of affordability is a maximum of 30% of a family's gross income for housing. Using this standard, a family of four with two working parents being paid minimum wage could only afford to pay $780 toward rent or mortgage payments without cutting into other basic necessities. The median rent for a two bedroom apartment is about $1,060; a single mother with two or three children would have to work for 109 hours per WEEK at minimum for her rent to be truly affordable. The affordable housing developments we are highlighting for Affordable Housing Week are the result of business partnerships among non-profit developers, corporate investors, commercial lenders and governments. What are the different types of affordable housing in Sonoma County? Who lives in affordable housing? Working people are the majority of households living in affordable housing. Unfortunately, elderly citizens living on Social Security, people with disabilities, and families receiving Temporary Aid to Needy Families generally do not have enough income to qualify even for affordable housing. In Sonoma County, according to a recent study , 46% of those employed earned less than $26,500. NONE of those workers can afford the median priced one bedroom apartment, according to the affordability definition. More than 80% of those people are paying in excess of 50% of their income for rent. The types of jobs in this category include food service workers, teaching and health care assistants, child care workers, retail salespersons, drivers, manufacturing assemblers, office workers, inspectors and agricultural workers. What is considered low income? The term low income means an annual income that is low relative to the typical income levels in an area for a particular household size. In 2007, a one person household qualifies as low income if they have income below $41,700; a 3 person household if they receive less than $53,650. Who benefits from affordable housing? Residents of today's affordable housing achieve financial stability and self-sufficiency by having more resources available for food, clothing, emergencies, education or savings to buy a first home. When families with children do not have to move because of rent increases or safety concerns, their children gain stability in local schools. Senior citizens benefit by having secure apartments with income left to afford medical care. Many of today's affordable developments offer services such as child care, Head Start programs, study halls with computers, job search programs, community rooms and English as a Second Language classes. Our community benefits as well. Neighborhood Watch programs that assist the larger community are often sited at affordable housing developments. Local nonprofit developers work closely with neighborhoods surrounding their developments and hire good property managers to ensure that buildings are maintained at high standards. Their presence in a neighborhood most often deters crime rather than adding to it. In thirty years, over nineteen studies have come to the same conclusion: Affordable housing does not lower property values. Another benefit is that jobs are created in the development of affordable housing for lenders, architects, builders, insurers, building material suppliers, and construction companies. Permanent jobs are created for property managers, building maintenance workers, and people working in stores near affordable housing developments. return to top of page WHAT IS SECTION 8? Section 8 is a rent subsidy program for low income families funded by the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and administered in our area by the City of Santa Rosa and by Sonoma County. The Sonoma County Housing Authority serves all of the county except the City of Santa Rosa. WHY IS THE SECTION 8 VOUCHER PROGRAM IMPORTANT? Since the Section 8 program began in 1978, it has met the affordable housing needs of many seniors, disabled persons and families living on limited incomes. However, these renters can wait many years before receiving a Section 8 voucher and many housing authorities have waiting lists several thousand names long.
Call the numbers below to offer your units for rent to Section
8 voucher
Who Are the Homeless? It's harder to get back into housing if you have no hope of more income. That is thecase for more than forty per cent of the homeless who are seniors or disabled people, priced out of the Sonoma County housing market. There are over 8000 people in Sonoma County living on SSI payments. About 20% of those people are seniors who receive SSI payments of approximately $800 per month. Where can someone with this kind of income live in Sonoma County? Shelter providers say that the fastest growing group of homeless seeking shelter are senior citizens. In Sonoma County, 24% of homeless people were classified as chronically homeless. They have been homeless more than a year and have a disability including substance abuse problems or mental illness. If someone does not have these problems when they become homeless, the stress of having no safe place to stay pushes some people over the edge, into one of these categories. Yet many homeless people manage to remain sane (although stressed) in the face of great difficulty. The majority of homeless people remain clean and sober. Many continue to work, but earn too little to acquire or maintain housing here. They live in shelters, transitional houses, cars, tents, campers, or double up with friends or relatives. When people are released from hospitals, prisons, the foster care system, and other institutions, they often become homeless. Seasonal agricultural workers who contribute to the wine industry are often homeless. Next time you sip some fine California wine, realize that some of the people who helped produce that wine are possibly homeless. Next time someone waits on you in a restaurant, consider whether that person can earn enough to live here. When you pay for your purchases at a store, think about whether people working there can afford housing in your community. If you are an employer, and having trouble finding good help, it may be that the housing crisis is part of the problem. If the farmworkers, waiters, clerks, and other low income persons have to leave Sonoma County because of lack of affordable housing, how will that affect your life? It is not realistic to expect the low income people to go live in some other county. We need to provide adequate affordable housing for all economic segments of our communities. That contributes to sustainable communities. Please support affordable housing production in your neighborhood and city. PBS Program Advocates "Revolutionary Approach"
to Homelessness: Just Provide People with Housing About Us | Join
| What's New | Donations
| Contact Us
|
