Definitions and Concepts
This term describes the percentage of median household income used to determine eligibility for affordable housing programs.
What is Area Median Income (AMI)?
This protected class, under the Fair Housing Act, ensures that housing cannot be denied based on this characteristic.
What is race (or other protected classes)?
This federal program assists in financing affordable housing developments by insuring mortgages through the Federal Housing Administration.
What is the FHA Multifamily Loan Program?
This grassroots initiative helps tenants fight for their rights against unfair evictions or rising rents.
What is a tenant union?
Throw the financial rule about only spending 30 percent of your income on housing out the window. What percentage of renter households were cost-burdened in 2022?
What is 50 percent?
This program offers rental assistance to low-income families by subsidizing their rent directly with private landlords.
What is Section 8?
These laws were implemented in the mid-20th century and led to systemic racial disparities in homeownership.
What are redlining laws?
This policy caps rent increases for tenants, ensuring affordability despite rising market rates.
What is rent control (or rent stabilization)?
A community-driven approach that keeps long-term residents in their homes by providing property tax relief.
What is a homestead exemption?
In 2023, 653,100 Americans experienced what?
What is Homelessness?
This term refers to policies aimed at creating diverse neighborhoods by ensuring a mix of housing affordability levels.
What is Inclusionary Zoning?
This term describes the phenomenon where neighborhoods experience rising housing costs, often displacing long-term residents.
What is gentrification?
These funds, often sourced from real estate transfer taxes, are used by local governments to support affordable housing initiatives.
What are Housing Trust Funds?
This form of housing combines affordability with services such as mental health support for individuals experiencing homelessness.
What is Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH)?
In 2021, 8.5 million low-income renter households were eligible for but did not receive what?
What is rental assistance?
This federal housing initiative, created in 1937, was one of the first to provide publicly funded affordable housing.
What is Public Housing?
This form of housing tenure allows families to become homeowners while keeping housing affordable through shared equity agreements
What is a Community Land Trust (CLT)?
This act, passed in 1949, set the stage for urban renewal projects, often criticized for displacing communities of color.
What is the Housing Act of 1949?
This term refers to government programs that reduce barriers to homeownership for marginalized groups.
What are down payment assistance programs?
A 2023 GOBankingRates survey found that most Americans have this amount or less in their personal savings?
What is $1,000?
A program that provides tax incentives to private developers to build or rehabilitate affordable rental housing units.
What is the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)?
This HUD initiative aims to affirmatively further fair housing by proactively addressing segregation and barriers to opportunity.
What is Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)?
This Obama-era policy tied federal funding to a jurisdiction's ability to address fair housing barriers.
What is the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing Rule?
This housing model prioritizes creating opportunities for residents to democratically control their housing community.
What is a housing cooperative (or co-op)?
What is the name of the proposed 2024 bill that intended to lower the threshold from a two-thirds vote to a 55% vote to pass local bonds and taxes for affordable housing and public infrastructure?
What is Proposition 5 (ACA 1)?