RVCDC Siskiyou Project 2007

The Ashland Housing Program encompasses a number of activities that promote and regulate the development of affordable housing within the community.

Ashland's Affordable Housing Program: Ashland has an ongoing program that provides incentives to promote affordable housing development, as well as requirements that some units are to be regulated as affordable for a set period of time. For units established as 'affordable', the City imposes both a maximum rent or sale price, and qualifies the occupants of these units to ensure income guidelines are met throughout the affordability period. There are considerable variations regarding the terms of affordablility and income guidelines for specific housing units  and thus it is necessary to contact the City's Housing Program Specialist with questions before renting, buying, or selling a covered affordable housing unit. If you have spoken with the Housing Program Specialist about the specific housing unit  you are interested in renting or buying (provided it's covered under Ashland's Program), the inclome verification forms can be accessed via the following link: Affordable Housing Application

If you are looking for housing in Ashland, this brochure should have some information to assist you in both finding housing and identifying some local resources that are available: Housing Resource Brochure

Community Developlent Block Grant Program: The City of Ashland receives more than $200,000 annually from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development as Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds. These funds can be used by qualified non-profits for a variety of housing and community development projects that benefit low- and moderate-income persons in Ashland. 

Housing Trust Fund: These Trust Funds provide a stable and steady source of funding for affordable housing. Trust funds enable jurisdictions to design housing programs and provide housing developers with a dependable source of funding to support projects. Ashland is presently working on the development of a Housing Trust Fund.

Fair Housing Activities: "Fair housing" is the name for the federal and state civil rights laws that protect all of us from discrimination in housing based on our race, color, national origin, religion, gender, physical or mental disability, the presence of children under age 18 (familial status), marital status, source of income, sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Housing Notebook: The Housing Notebook is a collection of information and articles related to the provision of affordable workforce housing. Topics such as housing terminology, financing,  housing trust funds, co-housing, green building, are covered in this notebook. Further, as an interactive PDF, this resource provides valuable information and links to more resources around the web.

Current Housing Projects

Get Involved: City of Ashland Housing Commission meetings are open to everyone. The Commission encourages the public to attend and participate.

What is Affordable Housing?
One of the most frequently asked questions pertaining to affordable housing is "What is the definition of affordable?" Federal guidelines for determining whether a household is spending too much on housing is set at thirty percent of personal income. If paying more than that, a family will have insufficient funds to cover other basic necessities such as food, clothing, transportation, health and childcare. The median income for a family of four in the Medford-Ashland area is $52,900 (2006), as set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

According to the Roy Wright Appraisal the median house price in Ashland for the year ending December 2005 was $439,000. Primarily, the people who can afford to buy homes here in Ashland are those coming from other places with large amounts of home equity from their prior home.

(CLICK HERE for larger image of chart)

The Table above illustrates that a household in Ashland must earn nearly one and a half times the area median income to afford the lower cost purchase housing in our community. To purchase a home of median value their household income would have to exceed double the household median income for our area. This disparity demonstrates that families earning a decent wage in our area still can not afford to enter the ownership market here without considerable assets beyond their income alone.

Why Support Affordable Housing?
Connected to the statistical face of affordable housing is the social face. It is proven that without affordable housing, not only individuals and families suffer, but also the community in which they live pays a high price.

In order to maintain a sustainable community, all three factors of environmental protection, economic prosperity, and community well-being must be addressed. The decline of community well-being and an increase in expenditures and environmental degradation is seen in: reduced productivity; an increase in homelessness, public assistance, and criminal behavior; a decline in education performance and proper nutritional health; road and parking congestion resulting in increased pollution, and higher costs for road maintenance and systems; increased fuel consumption resulting in increased pollution; increased travel time resulting in a decrease of family time and reduced hours of volunteerism with schools, churches, non-profits, and local government.

The percentage of families with children moving to or remaining in Ashland is declining as the cost of housing continues to skyrocket which has in part resulted in the recent closure of two elementary schools. The employment sector of our community is beginning to see the negative affects related to the price of housing. Recently, college professors, City Department Heads, and Physicians have turned down jobs citing the cost of housing as the primary reason.

Our quality of life is directly related to our ability to provide affordable housing. What are we doing to assure that people who grew up here can continue to live here? Unless we take steps to assure that Ashland is a community for the young as well as the more affluent aging population, this town will lose its sense of community and inclusion.

Other Links

The Ashland Low-Income Energy Assistance Program is designed to help seniors, disabled persons and others in the community who might have difficulty paying their electric bills in the coming winter months. People who have an active electric utility account with the City of Ashland and whose income does not exceed 125% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines for 2006 are encouraged to apply for assistance.

Qualified recipients will receive a credit on their electric bill for up to three months. Credits of up to 75% will be given for seniors and disabled persons and up to 66.6% for others. The maximum credit is up to $300 over a period of three months.