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30 <br />Introduction <br />Little Canada is mid-ring suburb in the Metropolitan region.While separated from Saint Paul by a portion <br />of Maplewood,Little Canada is still only five miles from downtown Saint Paul,and just under 10 to <br />Minneapolis.Little Canada is home to thousands of residents,with the Metropolitan Council estimating 4,514 <br />households in 2016.Providing safe,affordable,and high-quality housing is a necessity for the city to continue <br />to grow and support its existing community,whether for renters,owners,young,and old.This chapter will <br />outline the existing state of housing in the City,examine the city’s projected housing needs,and finally <br />reviewing the implementation tools and actions which will allow for this growth. <br />Existing Housing Inventory <br />Tables 4 and 5 give us an overview of the total housing units in the city as well as the division of tenureship, <br />that is how many households were owner-occupied or renter-occupied.As mentioned above,there are an <br />estimated 4,514 households in Little Canada,and for total units there are 4,729.That leaves an estimated 215 <br />vacant units which could be filled by new residents.In terms of tenureship,Little Canada has a fairly balanced <br />housing market for a suburban community.Around 39%of housing units were rental units.This availability of <br />rental housing plays a huge role in how Little Canada is able to provide the amount affordable housing that it <br />does. <br />One of the most significant aspects of Little Canada’s housing stock is just how much of it is affordable to almost <br />every income bracket.Using the threshold of a household making 80 percent of the Area Median Income <br />(AMI)for the region,there would be 3,674 housing units which would be affordable to that household.That’s <br />around 78 percent of all housing units in the city.969 housing units are affordable to a household making just <br />30 percent of AMI as well,or 20.5 percent of total housing units.Having housing that is affordable to all <br />income levels means that Little Canada is able to attract a broad range of residents.Workforce housing,senior <br />housing, and starter homes are all able to be provided via affordable development. <br />Table 6: Housing Affordability in 2016 <br />Affordable Units to house- <br />hold income at or below 30% <br />AMI <br />Affordable Units to house- <br />hold income at 31-50% AMI <br />Affordable Units to house- <br />hold income at 51-80% AMI <br />969 763 1942 <br />Source: Metropolitan Council <br />While Little Canada excels at providing affordable housing,and is a leader in this regard regionally,there is a <br />need to examine how many of its households experience housing cost burden.When a household is spending <br />over 30 percent of their combined income on housing related costs,than that household is experiencing <br />housing cost burden.Of Little Canada’s 4,514 households,1,243 were cost burdened.Especially impacted were <br />those households in the lowest income brackets,with 571 households at or below 30 percent AMI experiencing <br />cost burden.No community will ever be without cost burdened households but identifying these gaps in the <br />housing market is crucial to planning for future development.Knowing that the 30 percent AMI bracket is most <br />often experiencing cost burden tells us that future affordable housing needs to be geared towards this bracket. <br />Table 4: Total Housing Estimates <br />Total Housing Units Total Households <br />4,729 4,514 <br />Source: U.S. Census Bureau <br />Table 5: Housing by Tenure <br />Ownership Units Rental Units <br />2,899 1,830 <br />Source: U.S. Census Bureau