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Facts
There is a major and ongoing need for affordable housing in Larimer County. The lack of an adequate base of such housing
affects a broad range of working families — starting police officers and teachers, health care workers, retail workers and
many others who serve us. These families help to maintain the quality of life in our communities in Larimer County.
It is generally agreed that for renters, housing is considered affordable if it costs no more than 30% of a household’s income.
For homeowners, affordable housing should cost no more than 38%. Spending more than these limits may mean taking money away from
food, health care, child care and other basic necessities.
Figures
The following resources are available through the Larimer County Compass website, providing data about various measures of
housing affordability and supply.
Community Development Larimer County – Housing Data:
http://www.larimer.org/compass/sub_cd_housing.htm.
Larimer County Affordable Housing Report:
http://www.larimer.org/compass/affordable_housing_report.pdf.
Additional demographic data about the County’s housing and population can be found on the U.S. Census
website using the following link:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ADPTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=05000US08069&-context=adp&-ds_name=ACS_2008_3YR_G00_&-tree_id=3308&-_lang=en&-_caller=geoselect&-format=.
As the above U.S. Census updates the above information, updates may be found by following this link:
http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DatasetMainPageServlet?_program=ACS&_submenuId=datasets_2&_lang=en.
To access the data efficiently, choose the most recent year for which the data is available, then click on
Data Profiles, select a geographic type (e.g., “county”), select the state of Colorado, then choose Larimer County,
then click on “Show Result”. A summary table for Larimer County’s selected Social Characteristics will appear.
On the same page you can chose to display an economic profile, a housing profile, a demographic profile, and a summary
narrative. In that summary narrative will be information about the housing cost overburden in the county – which is the
percent of households paying 30 percent or more of their income for housing.
Consequences
- High housing costs make recruiting and retaining qualified professionals and skilled workers difficult. Businesses may choose locations in other areas where their workers can find affordable housing.
- Workers are forced to move further out from their places of work, resulting in longer commute time. This means additional stress and strain, less time to spend with their families and limiting their participation in the life of their communities, to say nothing of the additional cost of buying gas.
- More cars on the road add to air pollution as well as pressure for expanding roadways into surrounding land and disappearance of farms and other open land.
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