Amador County -- An open discussion about affordable housing raised some interesting statistics at the Technical Advisory Committee meeting Wednesday. The statistics were used in consideration of the Housing Element and how it relates to affordable housing and employee housing and the applicable fees, permits and waivers. According to General Plan Housing Element documents, housing costs continue to increase without a corresponding increase in the county’s median wage. 73 percent of homeowners paying more than 30 percent of their gross income, i.e. overpaying for housing, are living in the unincorporated area of the county. The majority of renters overpaying are concentrated in the incorporated cities. The largest concentration of low income households occurs in and around Jackson, Ione and Plymouth. The discussion focused on ways to allow more lenient measures for affordable housing, and in particular employee housing, like those units used for farm laborers. Employee housing makes up a large portion of the affordable housing sector. “This is a first (look) towards implementing some of these policies,” said Planning Director Susan Grijalva. One suggestion was to curtail financial incentives and reduce impact and permit fees. Other statistics highlighted Housing Stock. 1.5 percent of the county’s housing is classified as substantially deteriorated or dilapidated. The median year of construction for a structure in Amador County is 1977. Amador City has the oldest median for its structures – the median year of construction there is 1939. Grijalva said the discussion was intended to generate thoughts about ways to make the system easier for lower income individuals. The discussion will continue at future meetings. Story by Alex Lane This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.