What is affordable housing?

The Franklin County Comprehensive Housing Needs Analysis study, revealed in May, came to the conclusion that over 600 units of housing, either in the form of rental, senior or market-owned properties, will be needed through 2025 to both handle current market pressure and withstand future trends.
The price of housing affects monthly rent and mortgage payments, and those expenses can drastically impact who moves into the county and when they do. Maxfield Research and Consulting cited in the housing study how Franklin County stacks up to Federal descriptions of affordable housing.
According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), to be considered affordable housing, all of the expenses of renting or owning a house (including utilities) must be no more than 30 percent of annual income. Should an individual or family be paying over 30 percent of their income toward housing costs, they are then considered to be “cost burdened” by housing. Maxfield Research and Consulting stated that the amount of income an individual makes is directly related to the amount of house, or rent they can afford. Following that specification, an individual should be able to afford a housing source that is worth roughly 80 percent of their annual income. The Area Median Income of Franklin County is $63,300, so a $50,640 house would be considered an affordable source of housing in Franklin County. It’s important to note that communities vary on what the values of these numbers do to what can be considered “affordable housing.”
Read the full article in the August 2 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.