BOISE, Idaho — Playing the waiting game to buy a home is getting tougher and tougher. Despite home prices staying pretty much level in our area, it would still take the average local family almost seven years to save enough money to buy a home in Ada County. But can families even afford to pay their rent, while they're saving to buy?
Let's look at some numbers from the U.S. Census and Intermountain MLS. The median household income for Ada County is $83,881. If that family could save 20 percent of their gross annual income, that works out to $16,776 a year. I know that's a huge “if.” But if they can save that, it would still take them 6.14 years to save enough to make the standard down payment of 20 percent on an average home. That 20 percent allows you to avoid mortgage insurance and lower the monthly payment. It would take less time in Canyon County but would still be a long haul.
While a family is waiting to buy, they're likely renting. Rent, over the past few years, is way up. So, that's one more obstacle.
Also, a median household income means that half of the households in the area are making less than that $83,881. Some families are making much less. So, for them, forget about saving 20 percent, they're living paycheck to paycheck.
They're going to need affordable housing. But unfortunately, according to Nicki Hellenkamp, Mayor Lauren McLean's Housing Advisor, we just don't have nearly enough of that right now. And we're not the only ones. "This is something that cities all across the country are dealing with."
But what is affordable housing? This is a question we get a lot.
Generally, if a family making 80 percent of the area median income can afford housing, it's considered the top end of "affordable." A household is cost-burdened if they're paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing. Bottom line, housing could be considered affordable if it costs about $1,677 a month. That's for a family making $67,105, which is 80 percent of the AMI. Again, that's the top end.
There are plenty of households making about 30 percent of the area median income, around $25,164, and their rent can be no more than $629. About one out of every seven families are at that level. A typical family in that position would be a single preschool teacher with two kids. Finding a place affordable for them, to put it mildly, is a major challenge. And it illustrates that this community doesn't just need affordable housing, we need all sorts of affordable housing.
"In order to be a city that is for everyone, we have to really mean everyone," said Hellenkamp. "We do need to ensure that there are housing options for people at every budget."
And maybe you're in a position where you own your home and comfortable with the payment. So, how does the housing crisis affect you? Why should you care?
Hellenkamp says, "Housing affordability is important in our community, not only for the sake of our residents who need affordable places to live, but also for our employers who need to be able to recruit employees. It's also about our climate. We need to make sure that we have safe affordable homes that are close to where people work and play so that they're not spending all their time in their cars. It's also an issue related to the basic health of our residents. When people have a place they can afford to live, they are able to spend their money on healthier foods and on needed medical costs. There are so many ways in which this issue impacts our lives and our community."
Hellenkamp also stresses that any progress made on this front around the nation has been made by cities and counties working with the state and the federal government. That's not only sharing public funding but working collaboratively so those tax dollars are being used efficiently to help the most people get into housing.
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