What is Affordable Housing?
When we talk about affordable housing, we mean housing that is affordably priced for lower- or moderate-income residents*, so that new families and the workforce can buy or rent in the communities they work in and love.
*See the button below for income levels in Alameda County
HOUSING CHALLENGES
The Bay Area is a great place to live. But within Newark, there just isn’t enough housing for all income levels.
More and more, purchasing a home is out of reach for many working and middle-class families while renters face rent prices that are just too high. This poses additional strain on our transportation system, business, institutions, and sense of community.
Teachers, firefighters, health care, and other essential workers are traveling long distances to work or being forced to relocate to other cities.
Young adults and students - including your children and grandchildren - are unable to purchase homes or even live in the communities they grew up in once they leave their childhood homes.
Communities of color and non-English speakers make up the majority of our community members living in overcrowded and unsafe conditions, and are less likely to be able to afford to live near their jobs, school, or families.
What exactly does it mean to be affordable? And affordable to whom?
Affordable housing refers to homes that are rented or sold at rents or sales prices that are lower than prevailing market rates. In Alameda County, the vast majority of purpose-built affordable housing is built and managed by private and nonprofit developers using a variety of funding and financing sources. Developers are restricted to renting or selling these homes to households with a qualifying income, based on the Area Median Income, typically for a term of 20 to 99 years.
Area Median Income (AMI)
The majority of affordable housing programs target households who earn 80% or below of the Area Median Income, which for Alameda County is up to $120,800 a year for a household of four.
To be considered a low- or moderate-income household in Alameda County means a very different thing than in many other parts of the country because the income gap – the difference between the highest and lowest wages – is so wide in our region. Affordable housing in Alameda County can mean that your favorite hairstylist, your child’s teacher, or the friendly medical assistant at your doctor’s office has access to affordable housing, without which it would be hard if not impossible for them to be a part of your shared community.
Let’s apply this to our community:
Example 1
Amanda works as a medical assistant and a preschool teacher in Alameda County to provide for herself and her two children. Her two jobs earn her an annual income of around $119,000. This is over 80 percent of Alameda County’s Area Median Income, making Amanda a moderate-income household. According to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, the fair market rent for a 3-bedroom home is around $3,350 each month. A year’s worth of rent would swallow up almost 34% of Amanda’s income, making her housing cost burdened.
Example 2
Paul is a single-earner who heads a household of four and works as a daycare administrator. He has an average yearly income of about $86,000. At less than 60 percent of the Area Median Income, Paul’s family is a low-income household. To afford rent in a 3-bedroom unit in Alameda County, over 46% of Paul’s income would be directed towards housing costs.
HOUSING SOLUTIONS
More housing of all types and sizes can help ensure that Newark meets the housing needs of everyone.
In the post-war era, Newark’s housing supply was mostly single-family suburban homes – but as the regional and local economies have changed, so has housing. The City is now focusing on diversifying its housing stock to include more accessory dwelling units, small-scale multi-family buildings like triplexes and townhomes (also known as “missing middle housing”), as well as larger apartment buildings and condominium complexes. This diversity provides housing at a range of prices and sizes to meet the needs of current, future, and would-be Newark community members. A diversity of housing types allows Newark residents to thrive and, consequentially, our city.
Many types of housing other than the single-family home are possible in Newark and likely already exist in your neighborhood. You might live there yourself, have neighbors, friends or family who live there, or pass by one every day.
These types of homes used to be more common, but were made increasingly difficult to build or prohibited as years went by.
Affordable Housing FAQs
Answers to typical questions about affordable housing
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Most affordable housing is built and managed by private and nonprofit developers using a variety of funding and financing sources. It’s much more challenging to fund and complete affordable housing developments than market rate developments.
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Affordable housing programs are generally for those who earn 80% or below of the Area Median Income. In 2024, the Area Median Income for a household of four in Alameda County was $120,800 a year.
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There are multiple public agencies and nonprofits who provide assistance with finding affordable housing locally in Newark and within Alameda County. Visit the Housing Resources page for more information.
The City of Newark also has a dedicated webpage for Housing Programs and Assistance and many of the Housing Element implementation efforts will be geared towards developing more affordable housing options for city residents. Many of the services providers and programs are linked on the Housing Resources page.
Alameda County operates an online portal where prospective renters can find apartments accepting applications, check their eligibility, and apply online. The service is offered in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Filipino. You can visit the portal at the AC Housing website.
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Affordable housing structures include a wide range of styles, types and sizes, including duplexes, triplexes, quadplexes, townhomes, granny units or ADUs, cottage clusters, and low-rise (3-4 story), midsize (5-6 story) and large (7+ stories) multifamily buildings. Affordable housing must comply with the same zoning codes, restrictions, and design standards as market-rate housing. Often, because affordable housing projects rely on some public money, they have to comply with additional restrictions and higher standards than market-rate housing. Affordable housing can be for-rent or for-sale.
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Inclusionary housing programs connect the creation of affordable units to the construction of new market-rate development. An inclusionary housing program might require developers to sell or rent some percentage of new residential units to lower- or moderate-income households at prices they can afford. Inclusionary housing programs leverage the profitability of new development to pay for new affordable housing units and support the creation of more economically diverse and inclusive communities.
Newark currently has a residential in-lieu fee program which market-rate developers can pay into instead of providing affordables units as part of their new developments. The City can then use these funds to finance the development of new affordable housing elsewhere.
As the cost to finance and build new housing is always changing, the City regularly assesses its inclusionary requirements to ensure progress in meeting our goals of keeping the community safely and affordably housed.
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Affordable housing can often reduce crime by acting as a tool of economic development, and in reducing housing cost burden and connecting those in need with important social services and community supports. The National Bureau of Economic Research study examined the impact of Low Income Housing Tax Credit-financed properties on local crime rates in San Francisco, San Diego, and Chicago. In low-income areas of each city, there was a reduction in violent and property crime. Higher income areas saw no increase in violent crime, as well as a slight decrease in property crime.[1]
[1] Diamond, Rebecca, and Timothy McQuade. “Who Wants Affordable Housing in Their Backyard? An Equilibrium Analysis of Low Income Property Development.” NBER Working Paper Series; Working Paper 22204, 2016. www.nber.org/papers/w22204
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A 2016 study of the 20 least affordable metro areas found that affordable housing had no impact on property values. A decade prior to and after the construction of low-income housing, property values nearby and further away rose at the same rate. [2]
Typically, the most important factor that influences property values is the existing value of the land in a given community, which is based on proximity to resources and services, road/highway construction, urban/suburban expansion, and nearby large-scale commercial/industrial developments, among other things.
[2] “There Doesn’t Go the Neighborhood.” Trulia, Nov 2016. https://www.trulia.com/research/low-income-housing/
