JACKSON, Wyo. — The term affordable can be used loosely in Jackson. It’ll be heard both in casual conversation and in formal debate. So, according to the numbers, what does that actually mean?
The Jackson/Teton County Housing Department (TCHD) defines an affordable unit as one that is viably priced for those earning less than 160% Median Family Income (MFI), which is a figure calculated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
TCHD sorts applicants into four income ranges: under 50%, 50 to 80%, 80 to 120%, and 120 to 160% MFI. The thresholds shift with household size. For a single person, the 120 -160% range means earning between $124,740 and $166,320 a year.
Parkside at Benson-Brown Station, which was built in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of the Greater Teton Region (Teton Habitat), accepted 18 households after it was built, all of which earn under 80% MFI. For a single person, to qualify to rent would require the applicant to make less than $51,975 per year, or a little less than $25 per hour working a 40-hour week.
Another well-known project, now on hold, is the 90 Virginian Lane housing development. The final product mix proposed 161 rentals and 60 for-sale homes.
Of those 221 units, 78 were slated to be workforce housing, which has no income limit and only requires the resident to work full time in Teton County. The other 143 were affordable units distributed across five brackets: seven units for households earning under 80% MFI; 20 in the 80 to 100% MFI category; 26 in the 100 to 120% range; and the remaining 90 split evenly between the 120 to 140% and 140 to 160% brackets.
For a single-person household, 90 of the 143 affordable units in the proposed 90 Virginian Lane project would go to applicants earning between $124,760 and $166,320 for the upper range of 160% MFI. That equates to earning somewhere between $60 and $80 per hour.
Jackson Street Apartments is another TCHD development, but covers lower MFI thresholds. The project’s 36 units span three affordable income ranges, with the bulk landing in the 50 to 80% MFI range and nothing available above 120% MFI. A one-bedroom for a single-person affordable household in this arrangement would, at most, cost $1,788 per month, according to the TCHD website.
So, housing developments that carry the label “affordable” can cover a lot of ground, financially: from a single person earning under approximately $51,000 per year up to one making three times as much.
