There are different types of affordable housing - housing that is subsidized for low-income residents, and housing that’s provided by the private market without subsidies, but is affordable to households with more modest means. “Affordability” is relative to income and local housing costs. It’s generally accepted that overall housing costs, to be affordable, should be no more than 30% of a family’s income.
Qualification for government subsidized housing is based on a percentage of the AMI (Area Median Income). Depending upon the specific funding source, an applicant may earn no more than 25%, 50% or 80% of AMI, which in Litchfield County in 2018 was $96,800. A person working full time, making $20 per hour, makes $42,400 per year. 80% of AMI would be equal to an annual income of $77,400. Obviously, a large number of local, full-time workers would qualify for “affordable housing.” Local seniors often qualify as well and are a large portion of our existing affordable housing residents.
Due to the stigma of the term “affordable housing,” many local housing groups, who work to create housing options for young people and seniors in our towns, look for other terms to use. They call it "workforce housing," "attainable housing," "innovative housing" or "incentive housing." Regardless of the term, this type of housing in northwest Connecticut - housing that is affordable to families earning under 80% AMI - is modestly sized, attractive, well maintained and lived in by folks employed locally or retired from jobs in our area. Visit these neighborhoods in Kent, Cornwall, Litchfield, Sharon, and Norfolk and that is what you will see. In Salisbury, this type of housing makes up only 1.27% of our housing stock, well below the State’s goal of 10%.
Whatever we call it, when you see it, when you meet the people who live there, you'll agree we need more of it.