Affordable Housing: The Data
Good news and bad
What Determines Affordable Housing?
What determines affordability?
View our 2024 Community Housing Outlook Presentation below.
Area Median Income (AMI)
- Set by US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
- Varies by family size; differs by county
Napa County AMI for 2024 is $129,600 for a family of four
Federal funds usually support projects that are housing people at a maximum of 80% of AMI
A significant percent of local households are cost burdened
HUD calculates Housing Cost Burden as a household paying more than 30% of their income on housing cost
- Includes rent and utilities for renters
- Includes mortgage, tax, insurance and utilities for homeowners
- 38% of householders in St. Helena are experiencing housing cost burden
- 16.1% of households spend the majority of their earnings on housing
The good news: St. Helena is classified as a “Rural Designation”
- Eligible for special programs through the United States Department of Agriculture
- Cities or towns with less than 50,000 population
- St Helena, Calistoga, Yountville and American Canyon qualify
- City of Napa does not
- Preference to cities/towns with < 10,000 population
We’re missing opportunities
- We need to rethink density
- More self-help home ownership: We could built 50 homes in 25 years
- OTSH obtains land and completes site development
- Eight families are now building their homes at Brenkle Court. The project is on schedule