City of Milford Affordable Housing Plan 2022

On May 2, 2022, the City of Milford has issued it's 71 page Affordable Housing Plan. Significantly, the City has committed to exploring affordable housing in four areas, including: the train station area, Bridgeport Avenue area, Monroe Street area and Naugatuck Avenue. The City has also committed to a whole host of strategies including supporting housing education and advocacy in the community. All In for Milford applauds the City's efforts and looks forward to further partnering with the city to help make many of the recommendations in this plan a reality! 

Click on the attached PDF at the bottom of this page to read the full plan.

Key Takeaways From the City's Plan

Affordable housing is, quite simply, housing that costs a household no more than 30% of their income. The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has set the maximum affordability payment at 30% based on the reasoning that, for most households, particularly those in the lower half of the income spectrum, the remaining 70% of income is vital to pay for sufficient expenditures on food, clothing, transportation, healthcare, childcare, and other necessities.

• In Milford approximately 45% of renters and 26% of homeowners are considered cost burdened.
• To not be considered cost burdened in Milford, a household must have an income of at least $56,922. This means that for many occupations with high numbers of employees, such as teachers, food service and prep workers, transportation workers, office support jobs, and sales related jobs, housing costs exceed what is affordable for households with members employed in these occupations.
• In Milford eight out of the ten highest employment occupations pay less than $60,000 a year, meaning that many workers in the public sector (municipal workers, teachers, etc.) could find it challenging to afford housing in the community where they work.
• According to the ALICE survival budget, which is based on county-level data, the annual total household survival budget for a family of four is $90,732.
• In 2019, Milford’s vacancy rate for units actively listed as for sale or for rent was 3.2%. A healthy vacancy rate for a community is typically between 4% to 6%.
• Milford saw an 11% increase in the share of rental units priced at $1,500 or more. Milford also saw decreases in its share of all lower priced rental units over this same period.
• The lack of higher priced rental units in Milford puts downward pressure on the supply of housing priced for lower income households. Higher income households have more choices in the housing market and are likely renting units at a lower price point than they could otherwise afford.
• Over 70% of SCRCOG survey respondents feel that having new workers, families and children would have a positive impact on the community and feel that new housing construction should be built near transit stops, or other residential areas. Surprisingly, the majority of residents also feel that the primary barriers to creating new price appropriate housing would most likely be challenged by community opposition.
• In total, 51% of SCRCOG survey respondents believe that the region has a responsibility to crease housing options for individuals and families that would like to live in your community but cannot afford the current cost of housing.

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