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Galadrond t1_jdgruo4 wrote

Reply to comment by Practical-Intern-347 in Is there a time frame for the Brattleboro Museum Expansion to move forward Looks Beautiful! by The_Idealist_Realist

Affordable by Brattleboro standards for a two - three bedroom apartment would be ~$700 a month (with heat, water, no electricity) and ~$1200 a month (with all utilities included). Anything above $1500 a month is just highway robbery and really ought to be illegal.

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Practical-Intern-347 t1_jdhdast wrote

Interesting. That'll be a tough expectation to carry. If you bought a duplex with 2x 2 bedroom apartments in cash (so purchase price doesn't matter), it would cost ~$500/mo/unit to pay the taxes and insurance, much less set aside any extra to repair the roof in the future, maintain the HVAC, etc. Add a mortgage and you're bust. Going to include utilities for your tenant? Where does that get paid?

Also, the state's formal definition of affordable is for all housing expenses not to exceed 30% of the gross income of a household making 80% of the area median family income (MFI). For 2022, Windham County's MFI is $80,400. The maximum allowable rent (including utilities) for a household earning 80% MFI under that regime would be $1,286 for a one-bedroom, $1,544 for a two-bedroom and $1,783 for a three bedroom. The maximum These are the HUD-provided numbers by which all state and federal programs operate.

For your $1200/mo 2-bedroom, the MFI table would put you at 60% MFI (or less.)

I don't mean to argue with what you believe is affordable or reasonable, but these are the economics and demographic data.

edit: typos were confusing

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Galadrond t1_jdu5qpi wrote

I’m just stating what things are actually worth based on the income available to most people in Windham County. Also Landlords are charging about twice as much as what the state would indicate as affordable. A three bedroom apartment in Brattleboro usually goes for over $3000 a month.

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Practical-Intern-347 t1_jdhozek wrote

My other question would be-- what should we charge people who make $200k/year and want to live in apartments downtown? Rent burdening that $200k household at the 30% level would $5,000/mo. Those folks could easily pay $2,500.

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Galadrond t1_jdu6edn wrote

Generally speaking the New Yorkers moving to Bratt are fueling the greed of unscrupulous landlords booting their tenants so that they can turn around and charge clueless transplants three times as much. We need to make sure that current residents are getting first pick for all apartments and we DESPERATELY need rent control. Those clueless New Yorkers will just have to look elsewhere.

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