In 1996, an adult working full-time at minimum wage earned about $823 a month before taxes. The average market-rate rent in the United States is $428 for a one-bedroom apartment. According to a recent study by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, 5.3 million households spend more than half their income on rent or are living in seriously substandard housing.

Affordable housing is not just a national problem. Oregon faces many of the same difficulties as other regions of the Country. Oregon's 1992 Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (chas) indicated that 56,000 Oregon households (about 4 percent) are currently paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing. An estimated 20,000 homeless persons in Oregon also need housing and other assistance. While the number of housing units considered affordable is declining, the number of households in poverty is increasing.

These trends are the result of changes in the traditional economic base of communities, population increases, changes in the number of units in the housing stock, and the rising costs of new construction.

In 1993, the Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services published a document called the Housing Strategies Workbook. The Workbook provides a framework for conducting a community housing needs assessment. The following information provides a brief summary of the model described in the Workbook.

The key steps in the model:

1. Household projections for 20-year planning period
2. Housing Stock inventory
3. Needed housing units (estimated) for planning period
4. Buildable land inventory
5. Availability of sufficient buildable land

1. Current Housing Stock Condition
2. Crowding
3. Citizens Needing Assistance to Obtain Safe, Decent Housing

 Major Issues Addressed in a Housing Needs Assessment

• Is the community’s current housing stock in good condition or in need of rehabilitation?

• Is crowding a problem?

• What citizens will need financial assistance or social services to obtain affordable, safe, decent housing?

• What citizens have special housing requirements?

• Will other data and analysis be useful for affordable housing activities?

Has the community developed an adequate strategy to house its citizens for a 20-year planning period?

• What is the existing housing supply?

• How many housing units are required to accommodate the expected households during the 20-year planning period? How many of each residential structure type (e.g., single family, multi-family, etc.) are required?

• How many acres in the UGB are buildable?

• Does the community have enough land to accommodate the projected households?

Is the community’s current housing stock in good condition or in need of rehabilitation?

• Age

• Condition

• Percent Good

Is crowding a problem?

What citizens will need financial assistance or social services to obtain affordable, safe, decent, housing?

• Low and Very-Low Income: The HUD standards define households as "low income" if total household income is 80 percent or less of the median income of the area, and as "very low income" if household income is 50 percent or less of the median. This method presents a significant limitation, however, by not considering household size.

• Cost Burden: The total amount a household spends on housing is referred to as cost burden. Total housing expenses are generally defined to include payments and interest or rent, utilities, and taxes. HUD guidelines indicate that households paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing experience "cost burden," and households paying more than 50 percent of their income on housing experience "severe cost burden."

 What citizens have special housing requirements?

• Elderly frail

• Large families

• Farm workers, seasonal/migrants

• Homeless and at-risk homeless

• Persons released/about to be released from correctional institutions

• Persons with physical disabilities

• Persons with psychiatric disabilities

• Single-parent households

• Teen parents

Will other data and analysis be useful for affordable housing activities?

• Local development costs

• Detailed land inventories