Reso 2006-127 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

48 Alameda Countywide Homeless ant!Special Needs Housing Plan In 2004, the Self-Sufficiency Standard for Alameda County was calculated as: · $23,240 annually for a single adult · $50,907 annually for an adult with a preschooler and a school-age child · $59,328 for two adults with an infant and school-age child16 Thus, a single disabled person surviving on SSI earns only 41 percent of Alameda County's Self- Sufficiency Standard income, and as described in the next section, this is only 86 percent of the average "fair market rent" for a studio apartment. Housing Market in Alameda County The Bay Area is widely acknowledged to have a serious housing affordability problem. One commonly cited issue behind the lack of affordability is the jobs and housing imbalance; according to the Association of Bay Area Governments (ABA G), between 1990 and 2000 the Bay Area added 500,000 jobs but only 200,000 units ofhousing.17 Although the area has lost many jobs in the economic downturn since then, the jobs-housing imbalance persists. The housing affordability crisis is so acute that it affects households in almost every income range to some extent; however, the households in the lowest income ranges are both the most impacted and the least able to compete in this housing market. Alameda County has one of the highest-cost housing markets in the country. This can be measured In many ways: · 43 percent of the 518,471 households in Alameda County are renter households, and 48 percent of all renter households had a housing cost burden in 2003, up from 47 percent in 2002 (meaning that they paid more than 30 percent oftheir gross income for rent and utilities ).18 · The rent affordable to a household earning the median renter's income of $41 ,864 was $1,042 per month, $63 lower than the median rent of $1,105.19 · Alameda County is in the top 10 least affordable housing markets in the country. 20 · A person earning minimum wage would need to work 126 hours (more than 3 full~time jobs) every week in order to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment.21 · If a single disabled adult spent their entire monthly SSI income in 2005 on housing, it still would not be enough to afford a studio apartment renting at Fair Market Rent; SSI is $812, while the FMR for a studio is $945. 16 Ibid. 17 Association of Bay Area Governments, The Regional Housing Needs Determination for the San Francisco Bay Area: 200 J -2006 Housing Cycle, p. 13. Available online: www.abag.ca.gov/planning/housingneeds/pdf/RHND ]lan/RHND ]Ian-Chapter _I C.pdf (Accessed: July 21, 2004). 18 National Low Income Housing Coalition, Up Against A Wall: Housing Affordability for Renters, An Analysis of the 2003 American Community Survey, November 2004. Available online: www.nlihc.org/pubs/uaw04/UpAgainstaWall.pdf(Accessed: March 28, 2005). 19 Ibid. 20 National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach 2004, California, Available online: www.nlihc.orgloor2004/data. php?getstate=on&getcounty=on&county%5B%5D= I 85&state%5B%5D=CA (Accessed: January 27, 2005). 21 Ibid.