What is affordable?
Area median income (AMI) is used as a criteria for checking who is eligible for regulated affordable housing. Most homes created as part of Metro’s affordable housing bond are available to people making 60% AMI or less, which is $47,400 for a household with one person and $67,680 for a household with four people. Partners jurisdictions are allowed to create up to 10% of their bond-funded housing for households making 80% AMI.
Read more about AMI levels in the region
Almost half of all bond-funded these homes will be what’s called “deeply affordable,” meaning they are available for households with 30% AMI or less; that’s $23,700 per year for a household of one, or $33,840 for a household of four.
Rents are regulated to be affordable to people at different income levels (between zero to 80% AMI) but specific rent amounts vary from project to project. Some of the homes have project-based section 8 vouchers that enable households to pay only 30% of their income for rent (households with zero income would pay zero rent).
About half the homes in the program are two bedrooms or larger to accommodate bigger households. The other half are studios and one bedrooms for smaller households or single adults.