Res 2014-102/2014 Analysis of Impediments to Fair Housing Choice Action Plan

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6.1 Real Estate Impediments Impediment: Lack of affordability and insufficient Income. Issues: Lack of affordability, that is households having inadequate income to acquire housing currently available in the market, may be the most critical impediment faced by all households in San Marcos. The median housing value in the city was $121,700 and the median contract rent was $644 between 2006 and 2010.' The average income required to qualify for a mortgage based on the median home price of $121,700 is approximately $32,000 to $40,000 in household income and the average income to qualify for a contract rent of $644 is $28,000 to $30,000. When you factor in housing related expenses other than mortgage or rent payments such as taxes, insurance, and utilities, home ownership and rental housing is not attainable to many in the City. In fact, an estimated 49.4 percent of White households, 35 percent of African - American households and 45.2 percent of Hispanic households have incomes of less than $25,000. The entire City of San Marcos is comprised of census tracts where the majority of household incomes are below 80% of the area median, making the entire City eligible under HUD guidelines for Community Development Block Grant funding. The modal income class, the income classes with the highest number of households, for Whites was the less than $10,000 category with 20.9 percent of Whites in this income range. The modal income class for Hispanic households was the $15,000 to $24,999 range with 18.0 percent of households in this range. The most frequently reported income for African - American households was also the less than $10,000 range with 26.2 percent of households in this range.