Ramsey 2040 Comprehensive Plan No Appendices (2)

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114 Housing Cost Burden According to the Metropolitan Council in 2018, 1,537 households in Ramsey are cost-burdened. Being cost-burdened is defined as spending more than 30% of your annual income on housing costs. Being cost-burdened by housing costs affects lower income residents at a higher rate than higher income residents. In 2016, the ACS data showed that of those households making less than $35,000 annually (which is almost one third of Ramsey households), around 22% of those households spend more than 30% of their annual income on housing costs. The percent of households who spend more than 30% of their annual income on housing costs is much higher for lower income residents. Households that make more than $75,000 per year rarely pay more than 30% of their income to housing costs – less than 2%. Approximately 17% of all households in Ramsey are cost-burdened to some extent. Ideally, no residents in Ramsey would be cost-burdened. While this goal is not realistic or likely even achievable, the City of Ramsey should strive to support housing options at all affordability levels to decrease the burden on its residents. As the City tries to provide housing for all types of residents, at all stages of life, maintaining low costs for residents with lower incomes is extremely important. These types of residents could be seniors with fixed incomes, residents with disabilities, or firefighters, teachers, non-profit workers, etc. The City of Ramsey is proactively working on their “Could I Be Your Neighbor?” campaign to remove the stigma around low-income housing, as providing low-income housing options reduces the cost-burden for those individuals and families. While there are only 122 housing units affordable to households with income at or below 30% of AMI, there are 272 households that are cost-burdened and have income at or below the 30% AMI threshold. The 150 units differential between available units to cost burdened households means that Ramsey simply does not have the necessary number of units at that affordability level to meet the City’s existing need. Comparatively, while there are households that have cost-burden at higher income levels, Ramsey already has a surplus of units deemed affordable at those income levels. Table 53: Household Income Levels Income Levels Number of Households Discrepancy < 30% AMI 272 -150 31 – 50% AMI 411 423 51 – 80% AMI 674 4,726 Total 1,357 Source: US Department of Housing and Urban Development, 2010 – 2014 Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) Data Assessed Values of Owner-Occupied Housing Units Values above and below $238,500 are shown in the figure below. $238,500 represents the affordable purchase prize for a housing unit in 2015 for those at 80% of AMI. 2015 AMI was $86,600 for a family of four in the Minneapolis-Saint Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Area. The median value for a home in Ramsey was approximately $210,200 in 2016. Assessed values are typically lower than sale values, especially when homes are selling for above asking price during a busy housing market. The map below shows total market values for housing units across Ramsey,