Agenda - Council - 08/27/2019 - Laserfiche WebLink

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HOUSING AFFORDABILITY Housing Cost Burden Table HA-3 shows the number and percentage of owner and renter households in the City of Ramsey, Anoka County, and the Twin Cities Metro Area that pay 30% or more of their gross in- come for housing. This information was compiled from the American Community Survey 2017 estimates. This information is different than the 2000 Census which separated households that paid 35% or more in housing costs. As such, the information presented in the tables may be overstated in terms of households that may be "cost burdened." The Federal standard for af- fordability is 30% of income for housing costs. Without a separate break out for households that pay 35% or more, there are likely a number of households that elect to pay slightly more than 30% of their gross income to select the housing that they choose. Moderately cost -bur- dened is defined as households paying between 30% and 50% of their income to housing; while severely cost -burdened is defined as households paying more than 50% of their income for housing. Higher -income households that are cost -burdened may have the option of moving to lower priced housing, but lower -income households often do not. The figures focus on owner house- holds with incomes below $50,000 and renter households with incomes below $35,000. Key findings from Table HA-3 follow. • In Ramsey, 16% of owner households and 36% of renter households are considered cost burdened. Ramsey is slightly less cost burdened for owner households than Anoka County (18.7%) and the Metro Area (19.8%). Ramsey is also slightly less cost burdened for renter households than Anoka County (48%) and the Metro Area (47.5%). • Among owner households earning less than $50,000, 51% were cost burdened in Ramsey. This is lower than both Anoka County (53.3%) and the Metro Area (57.4%). • Approximately 90% of Ramsey renter households earning less than $35,000 were cost bur- dened which is slightly higher than Anoka County (87%) and the Metro Area (83.9%). • The median contract rent in Ramsey was $1,219 in 2017 and was significantly higher than Anoka County ($936) and the Metro Area ($936). Ramsey's median contract rent was roughly 30% higher than that of Anoka County. MAXFIELD RESEARCH AND CONSULTING 65