Affordable Housing In Ellensburg
Kittitas County, Washington

10 Low Income Apartment Communities In Ellensburg

Housing Authorities that serve Ellensburg

Guide To Affordable Housing in Ellensburg, Washington

According to federal housing data and AffordableHousingOnline.com research, there are 10 low income housing apartment communities offering 762 affordable apartments for rent in Ellensburg, Washington. Ellensburg features 438 low income apartments with rental assistance where households typically pay no more than 30% of their income towards rent. Additionally, there are 324 other low income apartments that don't provide direct rental assistance but remain affordable to low income households in Ellensburg.

Ellensburg, WA Affordable Housing Snapshot

Population and Household Demographics

Ellensburg is a City in Kittitas County, Washington with a population of 18,637. There are 7,314 households in the city with an average household size of 2.22 persons. 66.58% of households in Ellensburg are renters.

Income and Rent Overburden in Ellensburg

The median gross income for households in Ellensburg is $29,952 a year, or $2,496 a month. The median rent for the city is $758 a month.

Households who pay more than thirty percent of their gross income are considered to be Rent Overburdened. In Ellensburg, a household making less than $2,527 a month would be considered overburdened when renting an apartment at or above the median rent. 59.98% of households who rent are overburdened in Ellensburg.¹

Area Median Income In Ellensburg

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.

HUD often uses an area larger than a city to determine the AMI because HUD anticipates those searching for housing will look beyond individual cities during their housing search. For Ellensburg, the AMI is calculated from all households within Kittitas County.

In Ellensburg, HUD calculates the Area Median Income for a family of four as $72,300

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 Ellensburg

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 Ellensburg HUD Rental Assistance in Ellensburg

Low Income Housing Tax Credits in Ellensburg

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

From 1987 to 2008, 6 low income apartment communities containing 568 rental apartments have been constructed and made affordable to low income persons in Ellensburg 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 Ellensburg

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 Ellensburg is $39,060 a year, or $3,255 a month. To determine the maximum rent in the table below we multiply the monthly maximum income, $3,255 by 30% to get a maximum rent of $977 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 Ellensburg

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.

2020 Fair Market Rents