San Francisco is so expensive that households making over $100,000 a year qualify for low-income housing
Four-person households that make $117,400 a year qualify for low-income housing in San Francisco, according to a new report from Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). That's just below the median family income of $118,400.
To afford a median-priced home in San Francisco, a family would need to make $333,270 annually.
These figures reflect the stark reality of the city's worsening affordable housing crisis.
To qualify for low-income housing in San Francisco county or nearby San Mateo and Marin counties, a four-person household can make as much as $117,400 a year. The same goes for a one-person household raking in $82,200 per year.
That's the conclusion of a new report from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which just released the 2018 thresholds for affordable housing across the US. As the East Bay Times notes, the San Francisco metro area's threshold is just below the median family income of $118,400.
In addition, HUD's brackets consider four-person households earning $73,300 annually in those three counties as "very low" income, and $44,000 as "extremely low."
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For comparison, to apply for low-income housing in New York City, a four-person household can make up to $83,450 annually. In less expensive cities like Baltimore and Phoenix, that figure is $71,900 and $55,300, respectively.
San Francisco's thresholds come at no surprise. For the past several years, the Bay Area has been grappling with an affordable housing crisis, which seems to be worsening. As BI's Melia Robinson has noted, Bay Area tech companies frequently place their headquarters in areas without much nearby housing, and the high salaries and stock options prevalent in the tech industry cause home prices to continue rising.
Some Bay Area cities see higher taxes aimed at tech giants like Google and Apple as a possible solution. For example, Mountain View and Cupertino have recently proposed "head taxes," in which large companies would pay $150 per employee annually. The revenue would go toward projects that address rising housing prices, homelessness, and worsening traffic in the region. If the two city councils passes referendums for the taxes, residents will vote on them in November.
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