Supporting Documents (Data and Analysis) - Satellite Beach

The term “affordable housing” is simply the relationship between the income of consumers
(buyers and renters) and the cost (price) of the product (houses and apartments). Significant
changes in either of these two variables can “produce” or “lose” affordable housing. Affordable
housing is typically defined as “housing which costs 30% or less of a family’s gross income.”
Households are typically defined as very low, low, and moderate income based on thresholds tied
to the median income of a county or metropolitan statistical area. These thresholds are 50, 80,
and 120 percent of median income, respectively. Workers in households earning between 80
percent and 120 percent of area median income (AMI), HUD’s moderate income level, fill the
majority of jobs in nearly every sector of the economy, especially in services and retail trade.
These households are known as the “workforce.” Workforce households are diverse in character
and composition, and may include single persons, with or without children, or married persons,
one (or occasionally both) with a workforce job. Moreover, workforce households often serve as
essential frontline servers in the economy. Examples of workforce jobs can include a police
officer, construction worker, teacher, nurse, retail salesperson, and waiter. While many of these
households may not fall within HUD’s target population, these are the workers who are finding it
increasingly more difficult to find “affordable housing.” In the past, the efforts were concentrated
on low and very low income residents but the issue of affordable housing has recently expanded
to include the moderate income workforce population.
While roughly half of Brevard County’s ten largest employers have a large percentage of
employees that would exceed the annual income of those defined as “workforce” employees,
there are still a great many that would make the annual income of the workforce population.
Table 3-20 below shows the average annual income for several occupations that are part of the
workforce population and the maximum mortgage an individual in that occupation would be able
to afford based on income.
In order to pay for a home at the median cost of $310,000 or even at $262,000 many Satellite
Beach households would become cost-burdened. "Cost-burdened" households pay more than
30% of income for rent or mortgage costs. In 2005, 1011 Satellite Beach households (22%) paid
more than 30% of their income for housing. By comparison, 29% of households statewide are
cost-burdened. In addition, 442 households (10%) in Satellite Beach pay more than 50% of their
income for housing.
Satellite Beach is not alone in its quest to provide more affordable housing to its residents.
Communities throughout the State of Florida are re-analyzing their planning documents to ensure
that appropriate measures are being taken to provide attainable housing. Local governments are
searching for innovative ways, other than relying on Federal and State programs, to meet the
need for affordable housing.
Affordable housing is an issue that affects all segments of the local economy. The high cost of
housing forces lower wage earners to live in outlying areas where housing costs are cheaper.
This, in turn, increases travel costs for these workers as well as increasing government costs
through the increased demand for services in areas where such services may not be readily
available or able to be provided efficiently. This growth pattern also increases roadway
Housing Element
Data and Analysis 3-5