Affordable Housing

Background

Stories pertaining to the difficulties many members of society have in securing and paying for housing. Affordable housing is housing deemed affordable to those with a median household income as rated by country, State (province), region or municipality by a recognized Housing Affordability Index. In Hawaiʻi, especially, where the cost of living is extreme and the amount of available land and housing units is grossly insufficient, affordable housing is a major issue affecting a large segment of the population.

Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more than 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing. A family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States.

Farm worker housing bill faces new challenges
  • News Report
Joan Conrow