Affordable Housing In Lorain County
Ohio

46 Low Income Apartment Communities In Lorain County

There are 46 low income housing apartment complexes which contain 4,362 affordable apartments for rent in Lorain County. Many of these rental apartments are income based housing with 3,362 apartments that set rent based on your income. In Lorain County, HUD housing programs support 1,708 rental assistance apartments through programs like Project-based Section 8. There are 976 other low income apartments that don't have rental assistance but are cheaper than market rate rents.

Housing Authorities that serve Lorain County

Guide To Affordable Housing in Lorain County, Ohio

Lorain County, OH Affordable Housing Snapshot

Population and Household Demographics

Lorain County is a County in Ohio with a population of 303,152. There are 117,298 households in the county with an average household size of 2.50 persons. 28.74% of households in Lorain County are renters.

Income and Rent Overburden in Lorain County

The median gross income for households in Lorain County is $52,457 a year, or $4,371 a month. The median rent for the county is $741 a month.

Households who pay more than thirty percent of their gross income are considered to be Rent Overburdened. In Lorain County, a household making less than $2,470 a month would be considered overburdened when renting an apartment at or above the median rent. 47.58% of households who rent are overburdened in Lorain County.¹

Area Median Income In Lorain County

Affordable housing program eligibility is always determined by one's income. Each household's income is compared to the incomes of all other households in the area. This is accomplished through a statistic established by the government called the Area Median Income, most often referred to as AMI. The AMI is calculated and published each year by HUD.

In Lorain County, HUD calculates the Area Median Income for a family of four as $73,700

Most affordable housing programs determine eligibility based on the percent of AMI a given household's income is. Among the programs that determine eligibility based on the AMI are Section 8, HOME, LIHTC, Section 515, 202 and 811.

Rental Assistance in Lorain County

Rental assistance is a type of housing subsidy that pays for a portion of a renter’s monthly housing costs, including rent and tenant paid utilities. This housing assistance can come in the form of Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, project-based Section 8 contracts, public housing, USDA Rental Assistance (in Section 515 properties) as well as HUD Section 202 and 811 properties for elderly and disabled households.

Income Qualifications for Lorain County HUD Rental Assistance in Lorain County

Low Income Housing Tax Credits in Lorain County

The Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program aims to create affordable rental housing for low and very low income families.

From 1993 to 2012, 17 low income apartment communities containing 1,398 rental apartments have been constructed and made affordable to low income persons in Lorain County by the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Program.

If your income is less than 60% of the Area Median Income (AMI), you should not expect to pay more than the rent value for a unit in the table below. However, Affordable apartment communities that receive funding through the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program may have rental units that are not subject to income and rent limits.

Rent limits for the LIHTC Program are determined so that a household making the maximum income for the expected household size of the unit would only pay 30% of their income for rent.

Income Qualifications for Low Income Housing Tax Credit Apartments in Lorain County

For example, the expected household size for a two bedroom apartment is 3 people. Using the table above, the maximum income for a 3 person household at 60% of the AMI in Lorain County is $39,840 a year, or $3,320 a month. To determine the maximum rent in the table below we multiply the monthly maximum income, $3,320 by 30% to get a maximum rent of $996 a month.

Rent for units in the LIHTC Program include a utility allowance which is determined by the average monthly cost of utilities paid directly by residents. This allowance has not been subtracted from the rents in the table below. These utility allowances are set on a property by property basis.

Fair Market Rents in Lorain County

Fair Market Rents, often abbreviated as FMR, can be used to better understand the average housing costs of an area. Notably, Fair Market Rents are used to establish the payment standards for the Housing Choice Voucher Program, maximum rents in HOME financed rental projects and initial rents for Section 8 project based assistance.

2019 Fair Market Rents