Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Median Income & Affordable Housing

[Diane Margolis (diane]

You're right about cohousing being beyond the reach of most Americans, but
wrong about the median.  The mode is the number that is most common.  The
median is the middle number.  Thus half the families of four have incomes
higher than $42,000 and half have incomes lower.  Most of the higher incomes
are close to $42,000 but a few are ten and even 100 times higher than
$42,000.  When it comes to wealth, which someone would have to have to make
a down payment, that is even more unequally distributed with about 5% of
Americans owning about 90% of the wealth.  This uneven distribution of
wealth and income makes it very difficult for cohousing communities to be as
diverse in terms of class as many would like to be.
Diane Margolis at Cambridge Cohousing where we manage to have a bit of class
diversity by having three subsidized units.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sharon Villines" <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, April 02, 2003 11:56 AM
Subject: [C-L]_Median Income & Affordable Housing


>
> In the various discussions we have had on affordable housing and "average"
> income, the question is "What is it?" And "What is 'poor'?"
>
> On CNN a few weeks ago the "median" income was reported as $42,000 for a
> "family" of four. On the theory that one can afford a house that is
> two-three times one's income, this would make an $80,000-120,000 house
> theoretically within reach of those with a median income.
>
> "Median" means the income that is most common, rather than the "average"
> which can be skewed by a cluster of very high or very low incomes. The
> median on a bell curve would be the peak of the curve.
>
> "Affordable" housing is a legislative definition that varies from place to
> place and is usually stated in terms of a percentage based on the average
> price of homes in an area -- 80% of the average home price in a county for
> example. Thus "affordable" in a high residential real estate cost area
could
> be a much higher number than in a low cost area.
>
> If we assume that a "family" of four needs at least two bedrooms and would
> be most comfortable with three, cohousing as it is being built would not
be
> within reach of probably two-thirds of the American population.
>
> Sharon
> --
> Sharon Villines
> Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
> http://www.takomavillage.org
>
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