The Amazing Reappearing Insufficient 10% and 5%

As I reviewed the documents the Department of Planning and Zoning put out for the last Focus Group I noticed the “Moderate and the Middle Income Housing” section at the top of page 3. Yet again the documents listed moderate and middle-income numbers as 10% moderate and 5% middle-income, which the Focus Group has repeatedly said wasn't sufficient. Why do these numbers keep on appearing on document after document, when the Focus Group members and the community at large has repeatedly said these numbers don't reflect the communities needs?

According to the 2000 census:

17.1% of Howard Co households make less than $35,000
11.9% of Howard Co households make between $35,000 and $50,000
21.5% of Howard Co households make between $50,000 and $75,000
17.6% of Howard Co households make between $75,000 and $100,000

A HayDuke post from several weeks back reminds us:

Based on the county's current $82,065 median income, officials define moderate-income households as those earning between $32,826 and $65,652 annually.

So at least 29% of county households (and probably more likely more than 1/3 of county households when you factor in households making between $50,000 and $65,652 annually) would have to compete for that 10% scrap without even starting to address how 5% middle income clearly doesn't reflect the needs of the vast number of county households that are defined by the county as middle income.