Affordable and workforce housing, explained.
Plain-English definitions, in-depth guides, every major program and the history behind them — researched from primary sources and checked line by line.
- Affordable housing
- Mostly at or below 60–80% of area median income
- Workforce housing
- Roughly 60% or 80% up to 120% of area median income
Typical ranges, not legal definitions — every program sets its own.
Start with the three big ideas
Every topic on this site sits in one circle or the overlap between them.
Homes priced so lower-income households spend no more than about 30% of income on housing — from public housing and vouchers to tax-credit apartments.
Start with: What Is Affordable Housing? Workforce HousingHomes for the teachers, nurses, first responders and service workers who earn too much for most subsidies and too little for market rents near their jobs.
Start with: What Is Workforce Housing? Affordable Workforce HousingWhere the two meet: mixed-income communities, income averaging, cottage neighborhoods, land trusts and the paths that carry working families from renting to owning.
Start with: Affordable Housing vs. Workforce Housing: What’s the Difference?The housing continuum
Where every program fits, from emergency shelter to buying a home.
- 01Deep subsidy: Emergency shelter
- 02Deep subsidy: Transitional housing & rapid re-housing
- 03Deep subsidy: Permanent supportive housing
- 04Deep subsidy: Public housing & vouchers
- 05Mixed incomes: Tax-credit rentals
- 06Mixed incomes: Mixed-income rentals
- 07Workforce: Workforce rentals
- 08Workforce: Affordable homeownership
- 09Market rate: Market-rate renting & owning
- Deep subsidy
- Mixed incomes
- Workforce
- Market rate
Past, present and future
How we got here, how it works now, and what comes next.
The housing dictionary
149 terms, each with a one-line definition and its sources.
- Area Median Income (AMI)
The midpoint income for families in a metro area or county, published each year by HUD and used to decide who qualifies for most affordable housing programs.
- Housing Cost Burden
The condition of a household that spends more than 30% of its gross income on housing costs, including rent or mortgage payments and utilities. Spending more than 50% is called a severe cost burden.
- Workforce Housing
Housing priced for working households that earn too much to qualify for most housing assistance but too little to afford market-rate homes near their jobs, often defined as roughly 60% or 80% up to 120% of area median income.
- Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing (NOAH)
Privately owned rental housing that lower- and moderate-income households can afford without any public subsidy or legal rent restriction, usually because the buildings are older, modest, or in less expensive locations.
- Inclusionary Zoning
A local land-use policy that requires or encourages developers of new market-rate housing to set aside a share of the homes at prices or rents affordable to lower- and moderate-income households.
- Income Averaging
A Low-Income Housing Tax Credit option, added in 2018, that lets a property serve households earning up to 80% of area median income as long as the income limits assigned to its affordable units average 60% of AMI or less.
- Community Land Trust (CLT)
A nonprofit, community-governed organization that owns land permanently and leases it to homeowners or housing providers, using a long-term ground lease and resale limits to keep homes affordable for one buyer after another.
- Accessory Dwelling Unit (ADU)
A small, self-contained home, with its own kitchen, bathroom and sleeping area, on the same lot as a main house. It can be inside the house, attached to it, or a separate backyard building.
Run the numbers
The arithmetic behind affordability. Nothing you enter leaves your browser.
The programs that matter most
Who runs them, who they serve, and how people get access.
- Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC)The federal government's main tool for building and rehabilitating affordable rental housing. Investors get a dollar-for-dollar tax credit in exchange for equity that lowers a property's debt so it can charge restricted rents.Tax credit · since 1986
- Housing Choice Voucher Program (Section 8) (HCV)HUD's largest rental assistance program. Local public housing agencies issue vouchers that lower-income households use to rent homes from private landlords, generally paying about 30% of their income while the voucher covers the rest up to a local limit.Voucher · since 1974
- Public HousingRental homes owned and run by local public housing agencies with federal funding from HUD. Residents generally pay about 30% of their adjusted income in rent. The program dates to the Housing Act of 1937, but the stock has shrunk for decades.Public housing · since 1937
- HOME Investment Partnerships Program (HOME)HUD's largest block grant devoted solely to affordable housing. It gives states and local governments flexible formula funding to build, buy, and repair housing for low-income renters and homebuyers, or to help renters pay rent directly.Grant · since 1990
- National Housing Trust Fund (HTF)A federal block grant to states for building and preserving rental homes for the lowest-income renters. It is funded by a small set-aside tied to the mortgages Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy, rather than by annual appropriations.Grant · since 2008
- USDA Section 515 Rural Rental HousingUSDA Rural Development's direct-loan program for affordable apartments in rural areas. Loans carry an effective 1% interest rate in exchange for rent and income restrictions. Since FY2012, all new loan money has gone to preserving existing properties rather than building new ones.Loan · since 1962
Housing in Delaware
This resource center is published from Sussex County, Delaware. See how the state's agencies and programs work, and the pressures facing each county.
Built to be trusted
Every page lists the primary sources it was built from — HUD, the IRS, Congress, state agencies and leading researchers.
Each entry is checked against its sources by a separate reviewer before publication; claims that can't be verified are cut.
We explain debates fairly and label trends as trends. This is a reference, not an advocacy campaign.