Mixed-Income Housing

Mixed-income housing combines households of varying income levels within the same building, apartment complex, or residential subdivision. Mixed-income housing is extremely diverse. It can vary in terms of the representation of different income groups, how these income groups are defined, the tenure of the housing (rental vs. ownership), the physical configuration and design of the housing, and in its financing. For example, what may be classified as high income in one mixed-income development could fall under the low-income category in another development. In some mixed-income housing developments, households from different income groups are intermingled and occupy units of the same size and quality; in others, households from different income groups may reside in distinct sections of the development, and the housing occupied by different income groups may not be indistinguishable.

Mixed-income housing can take many forms and derive from quite distinct programs. Inclusionary zoning gives builders incentives (especially density bonuses) to provide low- and/or moderate-income housing within market rate developments. Rental housing financed with tax-exempt multifamily bonds must include a minimum percentage of low-income units. Mixed-income housing is perhaps best known, however, for the redevelopment of public housing under the federal HOPE VI program. From 1993 through 2007, HOPE VI funded the demolition of more than 150,000 units of distressed public housing and invested $6.1 billion in the redevelopment of 247 public housing projects in 120 cities. The great majority of these properties combine public housing, other subsidized rental housing (usually under the Low Income Housing Tax Credit program), market rate rental housing, and sometimes owner-occupied housing as well. While the representation of specific income groups varies from development to development, on average, public housing makes up about one third of the units in a HOPE VI development; other subsidized rental housing, assisting households with somewhat higher incomes, constitutes another third of the units, and market rate housing (rental and/or owner-occupied) accounts for the remaining third.