Newport Comprehensive Land Use Plan - Existing Conditions | Page 71

5 Housing

Table 5-12 – Cost-Burden Households by Tenure, 2012
Owner
Cost-Burden Households

Number

City of Newport
Cost Burden <=30%
Cost Burden >30% to <=50%

Renter
Percent

Number

Total
Percent

Number

Percent

3,040
1,020

63.2%
21.2%

3,715
1,180

60.9%
19.3%

6,755
2,200

61.9%
20.2%

Cost Burden >50%
Cost Burden not available
Total
Town of Westerly
Cost Burden <=30%
Cost Burden >30% to <=50%

730
25
4,810

15.2%
0.5%
N/A

1,095
120
6,105

17.9%
2.0%
N/A

1,825
145
10,915

16.7%
1.3%
N/A

3215
1045

67.1%
21.8%

1,645
750

57.7%
26.3%

4,860
1,795

63.6%
23.5%

Cost Burden >50%
Cost Burden not available
Total
State of Rhode Island
Cost Burden <=30%
Cost Burden >30% to <=50%

525
10
4,790

11.0%
0.2%
N/A

445
10
2,850

15.6%
0.4%
N/A

970
20
7,640

12.7%
0.3%
N/A

163,450
50,800

65.1%
20.2%

82,450
35,155

51.7%
22.1%

245,900
85,955

59.9%
20.9%

Cost Burden >50%
35,500
14.1%
37,505
Cost Burden not available
1,470
0.6%
4,310
Total
251,215
N/A
159,420
Source: HUD – Comprehensive Housing Affordability Strategy (CHAS) data

23.5%
2.7%
N/A

73,005
5,780
410,640

17.8%
1.4%
N/A

Low- to Moderate-Income (LMI) Housing

Low to moderate refers to a scale of personal
income ranging from the low-income cohort
to the moderate-income cohort. In Newport,
persons represented in the low-income
cohort earn around $30,000 a year, while
persons in the moderate-income cohort earn
around $49,000 a year. Figure 5-1 graphically
displays information attained from the
HousingWorksRI website by Roger Williams
University, in 2014, Newport had 1,997 LMI
housing units out of 11,655 total year-round
housing units. This equates to 17.1% of the
city’s total affordable housing availability
compared to the State of Rhode Island’s 8.3%,
making Newport a leader among Rhode Island
municipalities for providing LMI affordable
housing to its residents. Of these affordable
housing units, 452 (23%) are designated for
the elderly, 1,345 (67%) are families, and 200
(10%) are special needs housing.

Draft Existing Conditions (March 2016)

Figure 5-1: The State of Rhode Island requires that 10% of
municipal housing stock be affordable. Newport far exceeds this
amount with 17.1%, while the State of Rhode Island as a whole
only has 8%.

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