Martin Christensen

3/21/2017
Professor Wong

ENSP 311 HOUSING DATA

ANALYSIS PAPER
 The city I chose to search for homes in is Bellingham, Washington, a small city with an
estimated population of 85,146 (2016, U.S. Census) that was officially incorporated on July 29,
1904 (Lieb, 2006). Historically, the city was home to many industries such as; both coal and
mining, as well as logging when the surrounding foothills were logged to help provide timber
for the decimation caused in San Francisco by the 1906 earthquake (Lieb, 2006). The reason for
my interest in Bellingham lies both in the coastal location, as well as the serene natural beauty
of the surrounding area which features several national parks nearby. As such, the geographical
location highly suits my outdoor interests of hiking, camping, and fishing. Bellingham is also
only about hundred miles north of Seattle and approximately an hour and a half south of
Vancouver, British Columbia.
Using the website factfinder.census.gov, I was able to locate the Median Household
Income, Median Home Value, and Median Monthly Owner Cost for Bellingham by referencing
the American Community Survey data. Figure 1 reflects that the Median Household Income in
2010 was $38,136, and in 2015 increased by $5,400 to $43,536. Figure 2 represents the Median
Home Value for 2010 as $305,500, which is $19,600 more than the 2015 value of $285,900. The
last of the bar graphs pictured at the end of this paper, Figure 3, shows that the Median
Monthly Housing Costs for 2010 was $890, whereas in 2015 there was an increase of $69,
totaling $959(ACS Census Data).
Affordable housing is considered to be housing that costs 30 percent or less than the
annual household income. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban
Development also known as HUD, families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for
housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as
food, clothing, transportation and medical care(HUD). Although spending 30 percent of annual
income may not seem unreasonable to many Americans, the reality is that a staggering three
in ten US household have housing affordability problems. Fully 14.3 million are severely cost
burdened (spend more than 50 percent of their incomes on housing) and another 17.3 million
are moderately cost-burdened (spend 30-50 percent of their incomes on housing) (Bratt et. al,
2006). It appears as though America has struggled this issue for decades, and continues to, as in
a 1934 paper titled Modern Housing, Catherine Bauer writes The combined efforts of
speculative builders, building and loan associations and individuals building for themselves,
cannot supply a new dwelling at a price which even half the population can pay (Bauer, 1934).
Zillow.com is a website that allows users to; easily browse housing for rent and for sale,
assess the value of a home or property, and also provides an Affordability Calculator. The
Affordability Calculator allows the user to estimate how much they could spend on a home by
entering the down payment amount (amount paid at purchase), mortgage type (adjustable or
fixed rate APR), loan period (typically 15 or 30 years), monthly debts (all costs aside from
housing), and annual income. Using the Affordability Calculator I entered the Median
Household Income for Bellingham in both 2010 and 2015, with estimated monthly debts of
$250 and a down payment of $20,000. From the calculator I found that the 2010 Median
Household Income could only afford a house up to $130,623 (Zillow), nearly one third of the
cost of the 2010 Median Home Value of $305,500. However, based on these same parameters,
the calculator estimated a monthly housing budget of $870(Zillow), which is only slightly less
than the 2010 Median Monthly Housing Costs of $890.
I then repeated this process with the calculator using the same down payment and
monthly debts as the 2010 calculation, only this time I entered the 2015 Median Household
Income. From this I found that the 2015 Median Household Income could afford a house up to
$161,297 (Zillow), and had a monthly housing budget of $1,046(Zillow) per month. This means
that the Median Household Income for 2015 could only afford a house that was more than
$100,000 less than the 2015 Median Home Value. The monthly housing budget of $1,046 for
the 2015 Median Household Income was more than the 2015 Median Monthly Housing Costs of
$959. These findings clearly show that for those earning the Median Household Income in both
2010 and 2015, purchasing a home would most likely be too expensive even if they could save
up a down payment, and the 2010 Median Monthly Housing Costs were more than what the
2010 Median Household could afford. After collecting this data, it soon became apparent the
city officials need to promote more affordable housing, as it currently is not a reality for those
earning the Median Household Income or less, to purchase a home. This could be accomplished
by methods such as promoting higher density housing by providing incentives for future
developments, and changing zoning laws to restrict future development of single family and
other low density housing, as these typically are far more expensive than high density housing
developments.
On Zillow.com I found a small, simple, yet condominium that is 801 square feet, has 2
bedrooms, and 1 bathroom. This condominium was priced at $149,900. Zillow estimated that
after taxes and insurance, with a 20% down payment of $29,980 on a 30-year fixed mortgage,
and an interest rate of 4.148%, the monthly payment would be approximately $725, and would
require a $29,000 annual income (Zillow). This was reassuring to find, as this condominium
would be affordable for those who earn the 2015 Median Household Income, especially given
the 2015 Median Home Value being unaffordable for them.
The census data and home prices in Bellingham, Washington made me apprehensive at
first, and I was second guessing if I would want to consider living there. This was due to both
the 2010 and 2015 Median Home Value being unaffordable to those who earned the Median
Household Income for each respective year. Due to this, I assumed it would be difficult or
impossible to find housing within the affordability of the Median Household Income. However
once it came time to search for a house, I was able to find a condominium that would be very
affordable, even for those who earned the Median Household Income. I was also able to find a
few other condominiums within or below the same budget, which I thought would work well
for myself and further convinced me to want to move to Bellingham. I was unable to find any
houses the Median Household Income could afford, which suggests the city officials need to
consider recommendations such as those Ive made earlier in this paper to attempt to make
housing more affordable. Despite these few drawbacks, this research has highly encouraged me
to move to Bellingham for the outdoor adventures, and beautiful natural environment the area
has to offer. This assignment was incredibly informative in that I learned an immense amount
about the process of searching for and purchasing homes, as well as determining affordability.
Prior to this assignment and the lectures in class on housing, I was not aware that if housing
costs exceed 30 percent, it is considered unaffordable. I was also shocked to realize that myself,
as well as the majority of Americans live in housing that is considered unaffordable.
Figure 1

Figure 2
Figure 3
 Works Cited
"Total Employer Establishments, 2016." Bellingham City Washington QuickFacts from the US
Census Bureau. U.S. Census Bureau, 2016. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
Lieb, Emily. "HistoryLink.org." Bellingham -- Thumbnail History - HistoryLink.org. N.p., 20 Aug. 2006.
Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
factfinder.census.gov U.S. Census Data for 2010 and 2015 American Community Survey (ACS)
Bratt, Rachel, Stone, Michael, and Hartman, Chester, eds. A Right to Housing : Foundation for a New
Social Agenda. Philadelphia, US: Temple University Press, 2006. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 13 March 2017.
Bauer, Catherine. Modern Housing. N.p.: n.p., 1934. Print.
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)
https://portal.hud.gov/hudportal/HUD?src=/program_offices/comm_planning/affordablehousing/
Zillow.com