My Indiana Home Is...Affordable.

What an Affordable Home Really Means

An affordable home means that rent or mortgage requires no more than 30 percent of a family (or person's) income, so:

• For an elderly couple, low-wage, working family, newlyweds, single parents (and many others) with an annual income of say, $34,000, that's $10,200 annually (before taxes), or $850 a month (remember, before taxes!).
   
• In 2004, the state's median household income was $43,323 (meaning nearly 1.35 million Indiana households are not far from the example above).
   
• Coupled with the other necessities--like food, health care and transportation--it forces many Hoosiers to make difficult choices that can lead to substandard living conditions, poor academic achievement, poverty and crime. And that affects us all.

What Affordable Homes Are     What Affordable Homes Are Not