Affordable Housing 101
What It Is, What It Isn’t
Let’s get this out of the way early: affordable housing ain’t a look.
It’s not a design style, not a buzzword for “the projects,” and definitely not something that only applies to folks in deep poverty.
At its core, affordable housing just means this: you’re not spending more than 30% of what you earn on a place to live. That goes for someone making $28K a year or $128K.
But once you start digging into how affordability is measured, how housing gets labeled and funded, and who gets to make those decisions, you’ll see how messy and political the whole system really is.
I didn’t come into this work as an expert. I came in as someone who wanted to understand, and do something. I’m learning as I go, and my hope is to help break this down for others who care too but might not know where to start.
So What Is Affordable Housing?
It’s simple: housing is affordable if it doesn’t eat up more than 30% of your gross income (before taxes), including rent or mortgage, utilities, and property taxes.
So if you bring in $60K a year, you shouldn’t be paying more than $1,500/month to live.
That’s it. That’s the formula.
It’s not about granite countertops or square footage. It’s about whether you can afford to stay in your home without drowning.
AMI: The Numbers Behind the Labels
AMI stands for Area Median Income. It’s what HUD uses to figure out the middle income in a given metro area. From there, affordability is broken down into percentages of AMI: 30%, 50%, 60%, 80%, 100%, and so on.
Let’s say the AMI in your city is $90,000:
30% AMI = $27,000
60% AMI = $54,000
80% AMI = $72,000
So if a unit rents for $1,200/month, that might be affordable for someone at 60% AMI, but not for someone at 30%.
This is the math that decides how tax credits are allocated, what “affordable” rents look like, and who qualifies for what.
It’s not perfect. But right now, this is the system we’ve got.
Let’s Kill the “Projects” Stereotype
When people hear “affordable housing,” too many still picture the old public housing blocks from the ‘70s. But that’s not today’s reality.
Affordable housing shows up in all kinds of ways:
A duplex that houses a teacher and a nurse
A new apartment building with income-restricted units mixed in
Senior housing tied to fixed incomes
A mixed-use development where some rents are capped based on AMI
And in cities like mine, developers are required to include affordable units in new buildings, often through inclusionary zoning.
Truth is, you’ve probably walked or driven past affordable housing and had no idea. That’s the point, it just looks like housing.
Why Folks Stay Confused
We lump a lot of things under the term “affordable housing,” and it muddies the water:
Public housing
Section 8
Workforce housing
LIHTC (Low-Income Housing Tax Credit) units
Mixed-income developments
Attainable housing
Each one has different rules, funding sources, and goals. But because the public often sees them all as the same, it opens the door for fear, misinformation, and pushback, especially when new developments are proposed.
Why It Matters….for Everybody
This ain’t just a housing issue.
You can’t fix teacher shortages, long commutes, poor health outcomes, or racial wealth gaps without fixing housing.
If people can afford to live near where they work, in stable, safe, and dignified homes, everything else starts to work better too.
But we won’t get there if folks don’t understand how affordability works or why it’s broken in so many places.
Where I Come In
I’m not writing this as a policy wonk. I’m writing this as someone who made a choice to step into this work, with purpose.
I left sales to become a real estate developer who builds with equity, affordability, and impact in mind. Because I care about what our neighborhoods look like, not just next year, but 10, 20, 50 years from now.
I’m building toward a vision where housing isn’t just shelter, it’s rooted in dignity, design, and belonging.
And I want to bring others along, especially those of us who’ve been shut out of these conversations for too long.
Let’s Keep Talking
If this made something click, or even made you push back, I want to hear from you.
Drop a comment, send a message, or share this with someone who’s still trying to understand how this all works.
Because we can’t fix what we won’t face.
And once we start asking better questions, we can start building better answers, together.
