CLT15201 Frequently Asked Questions

Here at LC we have been thinking a lot about building the first Community Land Trust in the City of Pittsburgh. Our work has brought up a number of great questions to which we’d like to give answers. This will be updated as we move forward with our community process all summer long.

So what exactly is “affordable housing”?

Housing is deemed affordable to its occupant when they are paying 30% or less of their gross income on housing costs. (If a household is paying more than that, they are said to be”housing insecure”). Typically, “affordable housing” refers to housing that is required to be affordable, based on the 30% of income rule, for households who earn a certain percentage of Area Median Income.

Ok, got it! Except, what’s Area Median Income?

Another great question! Area Median Income, or AMI for short (because everyone loves a good acronym, right?) is a figure that is updated annually by the Department of Housing and Urban Development and it is indexed by family size.

Uh-huh… So what’s the Area Median Income around here?

It’s a little trickier than what you would think. The Pittsburgh Area’s Area Median Income is based on all of Allegheny, Armstrong, Butler, Beaver, Fayette, Westmoreland, and Washington Counties. The chart below shows exactly what AMI is for our area in 2016.