Comments

1
Affordable to whom? Apartments pitched at 80% of AMI is not what we need. $44+K is not a low income for one individual. Ansel, research this stuff a little more before you write a cheerleading article.
2
Could someone please tell me where Ansel goes to get the wrong income numbers in every squib he posts?

According to the City government, median household income (which is of course what everyone everywhere uses for comparison with rents) in Seattle for 2012, the last year for which data is available, was $67,100, 80% of which is $53,688.

Per capita income for the city is $39,886 (there are, of course, quite a lot of children and retired people who don't work at all).

Where does this completely wrong $44k figure come from? It's the same wrong, citation-free number that Ansel used as "median household income" for Capitol Hill in his Jess Spear campaign advertisement (the actual figure for median household income in the Capitol Hill neighborhood is $74,989)
3
For all you harping on Ansel for his numbers, you might want to check for some egg on your face.

Housing affordability programs use median income adjusted by household size as determined by the U.S. Dept of Housing & Urban Development. For Seattle, the numbers can be found via the Seattle Office of Housing - http://www.seattle.gov/housing/developme…

As is quite clear, 80% Area Median Income for a single person household is $44,750.

Derp.
4
Income restrictions on apartments, if they are truly enforceable, are recorded in the King County records and easily accessible by any prospective purchaser. None of this should be a surprise or subject to any misunderstanding regarding what Councilmember X or Y says. Regardless of how quickly we're all going to hell in a handbasket, this is America and not China, after all. Who are these chuckleheads?
6
@3

The HUD Median Family Income for Seattle-Bellevue (the relevant US Census Metropolitan Area) is $88,300.

But now I do see how Ansel keeps using the wrong numbers for Seattle median income.

HUD calculations for the low-income (80%) limit first take 80% of local median income. For Seattle-Bellevue, that's 80% of $88,200, or $70,550. This 80% of local median is then compared to 100% of national median ($63,900), and the lower of the two is used for the rest of the calculation. The one-person limit is then obtained by multiplying the lesser number by 70%.

So for starters, the one-person limit in an area with a median income less than the national median income would be 70% of 80% of median, or 56% of median income, not 80%.

For areas with above-average income, the four-person HUD limit will be less than 80% of local median, due to substituting national median income in the calculation. For our census tract, the HUD 4-person low-income limit is 72% of local median income.

And since the 1-person limit is simply 70% of the 4-person limit, that means for Seattle, the HUD low-income 1-person limit is 50.4% of local median income. Not 80%.
7
Shorter:

The one-person HUD limit is 56% of median household income, not 80%.

For high-income areas like Seattle, national median income is used as the basis for the calculation, not local median income.

The one-person limit for Seattle is 50% of local median income.
8
And the WLIHA endorsed Frank Chopp instead of the pro-rent-control advocate Jessica Spears? (of the Socialist Alternative Party).WTF?! Pfft!!! Fuck them!!! --- http://www.wliha.org & http://www.votespears.org

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