HUD: $93,000 now considered 'low income' on Oahu for family of Four - $65,350 if single (sales)

[whtviper1]

Since we get a lot of, I'll be $xx,xxx - will that be sufficient in Hawaii, HUD released new numbers for Oahu.

HUD: $93,000 now considered 'low income' on Oahu - Hawaii News Now - KGMB and KHNL

It could be worse - a family of four making $117,000 is considered "low income" in San Francisco

"An Oahu family of four bringing in $93,300 or less this year is considered "low income" under newly-released U.S. Housing and Urban Development guidelines. These guidelines are used to determine who can qualify for affordable and subsidized housing programs."

"Meanwhile, the guidelines consider a single person earning $65,350 a year low income"

So, the good news I guess - you potentially get subsidized housing at those numbers......

[hotzcatz]

Did they mention what the percentage was of low income singles and families there were on Oahu? Or in the state? Guess I could go read the link and find out, huh?

[WaikikiBoy]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Did they mention what the percentage was of low income singles and families there were on Oahu? Or in the state? Guess I could go read the link and find out, huh?

They indicate the median is $96,000 on Oahu ... meaning 50% of families of 4 earn below the median and 50% of families of 4 earn above the median.

But this $93,000 threshold as "low income" is for a family of 4 and for the purpose of buying/renting a home. If you earn $90,000 and already own your home, you're not low income from a disposable income standpoint because you have no housing expense.

On the Big Island, it is $62,800 for a family of 4.

Personally, I don't know how these numbers are calculated. For example, do they average home pricing (and rent) island-wide ? It seems that could distort the average ... given that Oahu has a small number of sales (compared to many mainland locations) and some very high $$ sales for homes in Kahala and condos in Kakaako (for example). If there are not a large number of sales, the high dollar sales can skew the average. I'm just curious how the numbers might change if you through out the 25 highest priced home sales for the year and then recalculated the average ?

Either way, the number would still be high. But I'm just curious about how the numbers are built out and if they are distorted a bit because of relatively low sale volume (comparatively) and some very high $$ sales built into the mix.

On condo sales, just the sales from the new Kakaako buildings distorts the average island wide. Subtract out sales in Kakaako and the average is substantially lower.

[whtviper1]

Originally Posted by hotzcatz

Did they mention what the percentage was of low income singles and families there were on Oahu?

No. But I suspect Oahu does better than most large urban areas.

Per article, median household income income is $96,000 - which could be a household of 1 or 4 or 10.

Roughly 8.5% of the population on Oahu is considered in poverty per the census - balanced by roughly 8.5% (top 5 in the nation) of households on Oahu with assets above 1 million excluding primary residence and retirement funds.

And low income is somewhat moot if you bought your home and paid it off or bought it when the market was far lower.

But, if you parachute into Oahu as a family and that family only makes $93,000/year - it probably won't be a picnic.