Mixed-income housing

The definition of mixed income housing is broad and encompasses many types of dwellings and neighborhoods. Following Brophy and Smith, the following will discuss “non-organic” examples of mixed income housing, meaning “a deliberate effort to construct and/or own a multifamily development that has the mixing of income groups as a fundamental part of its financial and operating plans” A new, constructed mixed income housing development includes diverse types of housing units, such as apartments, town homes, and/or single-family homes for people with a range of income levels. Mixed income housing may include housing that is priced based on the dominant housing market (market-rate units) with only a few units priced for lower-income residents, or it may not include any market-rate units and be built exclusively for low- and moderate-income residents. Calculating Area Median Income (AMI) and pricing units at certain percentages of AMI most often determine the income mix of a mixed income housing development. Mixed income housing is one of two primary mechanisms to eliminate neighborhoods of concentrated poverty, combat residential segregation, and avoid the building of public housing that offers 100% of its housing units to those living in poverty. Mixed income housing is built through federal, state, and local level efforts and through a combination of public-private-non-profit partnerships.

The definition of mixed income housing is broad and encompasses many types of dwellings and neighborhoods. Generally speaking, a mixed income housing development includes diverse types of housing units, such as apartments, town homes, and/or single-family homes for a people with a range of income levels. Mixed income housing may include housing that is priced based on the dominant housing market (market-rate units) with only a few units priced for lower-income residents, or it may not include any market-rate units and be built exclusively for low- and moderate-income residents.

In the field of housing, there exists no single definition of mixed income housing or a mixed income neighborhood. Berube argues that mixed income housing mirrors an organic process in urban America, and that most often “most mixed-income environments do not result from new housing construction, but instead arise organically from migration, income, and household changes at the neighborhood level.” The level of organic economic integration in neighborhoods is contested, however, particularly given significant discrimination against minorities (particularly African Americans) in housing location decisions. There exists no clear metric to determine a neighborhood as "mixed income." This article will focus on non-organic mixed income developments that are built as part of a particular policy intervention.

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