More and more agencies are using this measure, readily available through the American Community Survey, of measuring the number of families who are spending more than 30% of their annual income on housing, whether they are renting or buying. The Twin Cities Compass project says this measure is important because "People whose housing costs exceed this threshold of affordability are likely to struggle to pay for other basic needs, forcing difficult tradeoff. Individuals and families who are cost-burdened may drop health care coverage, select less expensive child care arrangements, or skip meals to save on costs, which may result in poorer outcomes in other areas of well-being."
Index movement. This marker is set up to double if Duluth can get the percentage of Cost-burdened households back to the levels that existed in the 1990s and 2000. For each 1 percent of total households that are cost-burdened, the index moves by 1 point.
This measures the number of single-family homes that are owner-occupied. Home ownership is one of the best ways for an individual or family to build sustainable assets. The focus is on single-family homes in part because Duluth has a shortage of quality multi-unit dwellings available for rent, which has led to the conversion of many single-family homes into rental units. Duluth's population mix, with a large number of college students and professionals who have moved here for potentially short-term jobs, requires that quality rental housing be available for overall prosperity.
Index Movement. The measure is designed to move by 1 point for each 1 percent of the single-family homes that are either moved into or out of being owner-occupied. A movement from 10 to 20 would mean that 93.5% of all single-family homes in Duluth are owner-occupied. [Data note: the city of Duluth has changed the way it calculates this data, and revised its estimate of owner-occupied units. Previous estimates had the number at 87%, but it's most recent number is 83.5%.]