What Counts as Affordable Housing?

Responsible for real estate projects in Orange County, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, Gino Canori serves as the executive vice president of Related California. Possessing upwards of 20 years of experience in multifamily real estate development, Gino Canori oversees a range of projects, including affordable rental housing projects.

Affordable dwellings are households that pay only 30 percent or less of their monthly income in rent. According to the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which set this definition, people paying over 30 percent of their total income are cost burdened. When paying less than 30 percent on rent, they have enough for health care, transportation, and other necessities.

HUD bases this 30 percent on each city’s Area Median Income (AMI). Due to this, affordable housing varies in price from place to place. HUD determines the AMI for every region each year based on median income for the area. Larger cities usually have high AMIs. For instance, the AMI in Wichita is $51,000, while in San Francisco it’s $119,000.

People making less than 80 percent of their area’s AMI are low income. Meanwhile, those making less than 50 percent are very low income and those making fewer than 30 percent are extremely low income.