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Comprehensive Plan Housing Element <br />In the future, the county's policy should be to promote "green building" programs that make houses <br />more energy efficient. This will reduce operational costs and make housing more affordable. <br />- Cost Burden <br />Generally, households needing assistance are those households in the extremely low and very low <br />income categories. Those are households with annual incomes less than $24,999. According to the <br />Census, 14,698 Indian River County households were in those two income categories in 2000. Because <br />of high housing costs, many of those 14,698 households may have housing affordability problems. <br />Based on the definition of affordable housing, a housing unit is affordable if a household's monthly <br />housing expenses do not exceed 30% of the household's gross income. For owner occupied households, <br />housing cost includes principal, interest, taxes, and insurance. According to the Census, 5,881(21.60%) <br />owner households within the county were paying more than 30 percent of their income for housing in <br />2000. <br />For renter households, housing cost includes contract rent and some allowance for utilities. In 2000, <br />4,414 (40.30%) renter households within the county were paying more than 30 percent of their income <br />for rent. In some cases, this represents an affordability problem, but in other cases this represents people <br />choosing to spend a higher percentage of their income to obtain better housing. <br />According to the Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing, 13,577 Indian River County households paid <br />more than 30% of their income for housing in 2005. In that same year, 5,066 of those households paid <br />more than 50% of their income for housing. Table 7.12 provides a break down of cost burden between <br />homeowners and renters. <br />Table 7.12 <br />Indian River County <br />2005 Cost Burden (Owner and Renter) <br />Source: Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing <br />Table 7.13 provides a breakdown of cost burden by income group. <br />23 <br />Community Development Department Indian River County <br />Households paying between 30-50% of <br />income for housing <br />Households paying more than 50% ofincome <br />for housing <br />Total <br />Owner households <br />5,747 <br />3,113 <br />8,860 <br />Renter households <br />2,764 <br />1,953 <br />4,717 <br />Total <br />8,511 <br />5,066 <br />13,577 <br />Source: Shimberg Center for Affordable Housing <br />Table 7.13 provides a breakdown of cost burden by income group. <br />23 <br />Community Development Department Indian River County <br />