Citizens' Housing and Planning Association

Generations of families will have the opportunity to live in the same area.
The economic vitality of our community and region will be strengthened.
Municipal employees, teachers, nurses and other essential service workers will be able to live in the town they serve.
Young professionals and entry-level workers will be able to live in our community.
The range of high quality affordable housing choices in the area will be expanded.

Essex County is in transition. In 1998, nearly all Essex County communities were deemed affordable to existing residents. Today, only two remain affordable to existing residents. More and more households feel the strain of housing prices. Consider:

The median price of a home in the region is approximately $420,000.
Median single family home sales prices in the region ranged from $230,000 in Lawrence to $636,500 in Boxford in 2004. Yet a person earning $35,000/year – a typical salary for a starting teacher with a bachelor's degree – can only afford to buy a home for about $160,000. A family earning $52,000 - the median income for a family of four in Essex County -could buy a home priced at about $232,000. Yet Haverhill, Lawrence, Lynn, and Methuen are the only Essex County communities with median home sales prices in the $200s. There are no communities with median sales in the $100s.
There are many relative newcomers in our County. An estimated 157,000 households out of 270,000 in Essex County moved into their homes after 1995. Many of them would be unable to afford to purchase at today's prices.
In a recent study of 30 of the 34 Essex County communities, the median rent for a two-bedroom apartment was $1,175. That figure is 23% higher than it was in 2000. A four-bedroom apartment, which is very difficult to find, has a median rent of $2,700, representing a 45% increase since 2000.
Households who pay more than 30% of their income towards housing are considered to have a cost burden. In Essex County, those numbers are striking; nearly 19,000 renters and more than 34,000 homeowners are considered cost burdened. Over one-half of households in Essex County communities pay more than 30% of their income on housing and one-quarter pay more than 50%. 23% of homeowners pay more than 30% of their income for a mortgage while 30% of renters are paying more than 30% of their income towards rent.
A recent poll conducted by the University of Massachusetts shows nearly 80% of Essex County residents are concerned about the cost of housing. For more information, see Essex County Poll.